The Night Saga: The End
by YunaBlaze
Summary: When pop star singer Cloud Strife lost his voice, his dream ended. Now he and his friend, Zack, move into an old mansion to start a new life that will soon become the beginning of a life out of the ordinary. Let the chains over the demons be broken!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. Enjoy my new story!**

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The Beginning of the Dream

Dull sapphire blue eyes watched trees after trees went passed him from his passenger seat inside a small blue van. Cloud Strife, a famous 21-year-old pop star singer, is now moving from the loud, noisy, big city Midgar to some middle-of-no-where backwater village named Eir.

'Hey, Spike. You're alright there?' the blond hair singer heard the driver of the van asked. He turned to look at his old friend, Zack, a handsome guy with black spiky hair and sea blue eyes that seemed to glow just like his.

_Yes, I'm fine._ Cloud wanted to say out loud to his friend, but he couldn't. Why? Simple, he couldn't speak nor could he sing. And why can't he? Because of a car accident a few mouths ago, his driver had took a cup or two of strong whisky too much and hadn't warned anyone about it, causing the car to crash that had took away his voice _forever_. A month ago, his manager had put him out of business after giving him his last salary, which is a large enough sum for him to live in his old apartment for another five years, and told him that he is now useless before he kicked him out of his front door.

During the time he spent in his apartment afterward, he had become a bit desperate. Singing was his dream and his life; without it, he is like a fish outside a pond, struggling to survive. Then Zack—the friend who he had only written letters and sent his CDs to him by mail ever since he had became a star singer—had came to him as fast as he could when he heard his accident and helped him get back on his feet.

In fact, it was Zack who had suggested him to move to the country side, because he had brought a mansion there, which surprised him greatly, since Zack had told him he had been working in a delivery service company.

'Trust me. It'll be great. Even though the price for it is cheap, it's great. You'll see,' the raven hair man comforted him.

_I doubt it. _Cloud thought and shook his head in exasperation of his friend's optimist view on things. After all, what could be so great for a big mansion of over 5000 square feet situated at the outskirt of a small village that cost only 1000 gil, it will probably had a rat or bug infestation and pipelines problems. Still, he is grateful for Zack's company, especially since he had quit the delivery service job to stay with him and taking care of him. _It's not like I haven't live in a house that hadn't had those problems before._

Now that he thought about it, the name of the village, Eir, meant "mercy" or "help" in ancient Norse and ironically, it is exactly what his current state is in need of.

'Ah, there it is!' Zack practically shouted next to him and pointed at something above the woods. The blond hair boy looked up from the trees to see the tip of two or three stone turrets. When he looked back on the road he noticed an old opened worn-out gate that leads to their new home. The van slowed down as it passed the gate and turned towards a rocky pathway.

_This forest is so thick. _Cloud thought as the vehicle crossed a stone bridge above a small river. The whole forest seemed to be swallowing them as they go. The leaves and branches were so thick, they looked as if they were shielding or hiding something from the sunlight. _It's so... dark in here..._

In a few minutes, their van stopped right in front of the old ancient mansion. The raven hair boy got out of the car first and looked up at the new home with a bright smile as he said: 'Welcome to your new home, Cloud.'

The mansion had a 16th century Victorian style and it is about three stories high. Green vines covered a large part of the walls on the left side, while the right side looked as if age had caught up with it, because the stone bricks had several cracks there and here. In short, the whole place looked dark, gloomy and lifeless.

The blond simply shrugged his shoulder in response of his friend's welcome as he took his backpack from the back seat and swung it over his shoulder. Before he closed the door, he put a small notebook and a pen in his pocket, so he could communicate with Zack.

'Go inside and pick a room, I'll take care of the things in the trunk,' the black spiky boy said as he threw a key toward his mute friend who caught it in one hand. 'Good reflexes.'

_Oh please._ The mute singer thought as he went into the mansion, leaving the used-to-be delivery man to take care of the heavy boxes. He slid the key into the keyhole of the bistre-colored door with a strange cross-like insignia doorknocker. _The previous owners must be pretty religious._

When Cloud pushed opened the door, he expected to see dark colors and eerie statues around, but he was surprise to see that the hall was filled of royal colors, it was almost like the other mansions owned by famous people he had invited to visit before.

The floor was made of shiny limestone with beautiful golden leaves pattern on them, some small mahogany tables on either side of the hall with golden leaf-like handles, even the stairs' handles had a certain leaf pattern on them. Everything inside the eerie mansion looked livelier than the outside.

A single staircase on either side, a dark oak door right in the middle under the second floor, curved upward to the upper floor. _Pick a room first, visit later. _The blond quickly snapped out of his reveries and made his way to the second floor.

He picked the third room at the east wing that had a queen size bed sporting beige sheets with small golden star pattern on them. The singer took out a small picture frame and gently placed it on the nightstand next to the bed.

The photo was a woman with her blond hair tied into a tight bun, wearing a blue sky shirt and a grey skirt, but what would attract people's attention the most, were her beautiful smile and her crystal blue eyes. She was smiling warmly at the camera as she stood next to a field of white flowers that she had grown with her own two hands.

_This is my new home, mother. _Cloud smiled at the person in the photo, every time he does this, he felt like his mother is still very close to him, even though she had left this world five years ago. After a minute or so, he quickly placed the other items in his bag inside the drawer of the nightstand.

When he finished, he decided to help Zack finish unpacking the boxes, but when he walked out of his room, he noticed something very unusual. The door at the end of the corridor was crimson red, like it was painted with blood, while the others were just plain wood oak. Curious at why it was so different from the others, he went closer to the door and found that door had a strange cross-insignia on it just like the one on the front door, but this one had wings on it.

_Weird..._ The blond put his hand the handle of the door, but it was locked. _Huh? _He tried to push and pull the door, but it won't budge. He slowly backed away and was about to try to kick the door open when he heard Zack calling for help. He shot the door a dirty look that said that he'll be back for it later before he went downstairs.

***

After a few hours of moving and pushing in furniture and boxes, the duo had finally unpacked all their belongings and made their way to the kitchen to make some delicious sandwiches. Cloud hadn't expected the mansion to have electricity, because it seemed so old and not at all modern, but he wouldn't complain or question about it.

As Zack went through the fridge to fetch the ingredients for their late dinner, Cloud took out his notebook and pen, scribbling a few words on it before he tapped his friend's shoulder lightly, gaining his attention instantly. **Why is the red door on the second floor locked?**

'Oh, that door. I don't really know. It was lock before I came here and so does the two other doors, the blue one at the west wing and the black one in the middle of the stairs,' the older man explained as he took some cheese, ham, lettuce and a tomato. 'The previous owner said that it had been locked long before he even owned this place.'

**Why did he sell this mansion so cheap? **The blond wrote down as the raven-haired teen washed the vegetables.

'Beats me,' Zack replied as he took out some bread from the kitchen cabinet, leaving Cloud to cut the vegetables into thin slices. 'All he told me it's that he is old and this mansion is beyond his age or something like that, to tell you the truth I don't even understand what he meant by that.'

_I wonder if you were even listening when he is talking to you..._ The blond thought as he sandwiched the ingredients together. _Still it's strange to keep a door lock for no important reasons. I wonder why? Oh well, it's none of my business._

The two young men quickly ate their dinner and went back to their separate quarters, but Cloud stopped right in front of his room and stole a small glance at the sangria door. His mind kept having this _nagging_ feeling, like something or _someone_ kept whispering next to his ears.

_I'm probably too tired right now_. The blond shrugged his shoulder and entered his room, believing that it was just the simple uneasiness of moving into a new, big and ancient mansion. He never would have thought that it is not the case at all.

***

_Darkness and silence had always been the first thing that had invaded his world. It had always been this way since he was born. He never really dreamed during his sleeps, it was always a pitch-black cold darkness waiting for him in his dreamless sleep. Somehow he now found standing in the middle of a maze garden of some kind. The hedge walls are more than 8 feet long, making it impossible for him to jump up and spot the exit._

_The cold wind was howling on this starless night, making the blond shivered not only from the bitter cold, but also from fear. The boy's naked feet shuffled with the dead star-like shaped leaves on the cold stone ground. __**It's so cold here...**_ _Cloud thought as he wrapped his arms around himself to keep warm._

_Luckily, the full moon shone brightly above him, lighting his surroundings, and... music? He listened closely and caught the soft notes of music that could only have been made by the finest violins. Suddenly his body started to move on its own and walked past intersections, turns and dead-ends. He is searching... for what he does not know..._

_Then he spotted it, a marble pavilion stood at the end of his path. A lone slender shadow stood in front of the monument, playing a violin gently and slowly like he had all the time in the world, with the rose bushes around him to act as his spectators._

_Even though the moonlight lit everything around him, the light couldn't seemed to touch this shadowy figure, like some kind of protection had been cast around the mysterious person, hiding his face from Cloud's sight._

_Suddenly the shadow stopped playing his melodious tune as if he had sensed the presence of his silent spectator._

_**Who's there?**_ _Cloud heard a masculine voice whispered in his mind. It was as melodious as the music he had heard. The man slowly turned his head to look at him, but before either of them could see the other's face, everything was suddenly swallowed by darkness._

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**I might not be able to update as fast and as soon as I can, because of school projects and examens, but I'll do my best to post new chapters as soon as I can.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. I hope you will all enjoy the new chapter!**

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The End of Reality

The blond singer woke in a startled and his breath came out as ragged pants, taking slowly some deep breathes to calm himself as he sat up on his bed. _What? What was that? A dream?_ Cloud looked around him to see if something was out of place, seeing nothing was wrong with his room he let out a heavy sigh as he brushed away his cold sweat. _It was a dream... and a really weird one too... but it seems so... real..._

Then he heard a small knock on his door and Zack's muffled voice said, 'Hey Cloud! You awake? I'm going out to the village to buy some stuff, you want to come?'

The blond quickly got off of his bed and scribbled down his answer on his small notebook. **Yes. I'll be out in a minute.** Before he tore his note from the book and slipped it under the door.

'Alright. I'll wait for you in the car. Take all the time you need,' Cloud heard his old friend said behind the door as he made his way to the bathroom. While brushing his teeth and changing his clothes, his thoughts wandered to the strange dream he had that is still nagging him.

_Stop thinking about it Cloud Strife! Just because it was your first dream, it doesn't mean a thing to you._ He scowled at himself as he put on his black jacket and placed his notebook into his pocket.

When the blond was about to leave, he noticed something was wrong with his room. _Since when did I open the window?_ The retired singer thought as he stared at the floating curtain. He pulled opened the curtains and something fell to the ground. He slowly picked up to examine the item.

It was a dried star-shaped leaf, the same one he had seen in his dream. Cloud looked up from the leaf to the window, what he saw caused his eyes to widen to the size of dinner plates. Outside the window was the hedge maze he had been wandering in his dream and he could see the top of a white marble pavilion from his spot. _It can't be the same garden... it must be a coincidence. _The blond closed the window and tucked the leaf back on the windowsill before he went outside to join Zack.

When he got inside the car, Zack asked, 'What's going Cloud? You look like you have seen a ghost or something.'

The voiceless singer was about to pull out his notepad from his pocket, but he refrained himself. _What are you going to say Cloud? That you had a dream about the maze garden outside your window? Get a hold of yourself!_

Then Cloud simply shook his head, causing Zack to raise an eyebrow in question as he asked, 'Are you really sure you don't have something you want to talk with me?' A small shook. 'Alright, but just remember, if you need anything, _anything at all_, I'll be there for you, ok?'

The blond offered a small reassuring smile to his friend before they set out to the Eir Village.

***

Village of Eir is really a simple plain and _boring_, with a capital B, town. The houses and shops are all distant from each and other and they are all at least a century old. It was only at the square that things seemed to be more modern with bright colors.

Cloud now sat on a stone bench next to a fountain that had a statue of a water goddess of some kind, holding an urn up high and pouring the water out. He let out a heavy sigh as he studied his surroundings. Zack had left him in order to buy a few things in a nearby grocery store. The blond hair singer was never a social-type person to begin with and now with his voice gone, his interaction ability was totally annihilated.

_Zack Fair, you'll be the death of me someday._ The blond thought tiredly as he got up from his sitting spot and decided to walk around the stores to stretch his legs a bit. Sometimes, he really hated his friend for his over-enthusiasm personality, but it was also because of this personality that they became friends.

Suddenly, his nose caught a faint sweet scent in the air, a scent he was very familiar with, but couldn't say why. The sweet aroma came from a store that seemed to be a tea shop of some kind named Cosmos. Curious, he pushed opened the door and a bell chimed inside the small shop as he stepped inside.

The air inside was thick and the heat was almost unbearable, it was almost like he was standing in a jungle, but Cloud didn't mind, because it had been at least five years since he had set foot in a place similar to this one. _It reminds me of the greenhouse, where mother will plant and grow all sort of flower and would sell them later._

Sapphire blue eyes looked around the shop, where a set of tables were placed on the left side, some bookshelves were aligned at the back and a small counter on the right, an incense burner on it, behind the counter was shelves holding different jars filled with different dried plants, roots and herbs, beneath them were a set of cabinets with dozen of small drawers on them, each listed with the name of a specific flower.

_Is this an herbal shop?_ Cloud thought as he stepped closer to the incense burner on the counter and inhaled the small fume coming out of the holes. _Iris. _The blond identified mentally.

'Can I help you?' Normally, people would have jumped in surprise when they heard someone said something behind them, but since the blond singer had been used to the sudden pop ups of journalists, it didn't seemed to surprise him anymore.

Cloud looked over his shoulder to see an old bald man in long blue and green robes, which looked like a mix of medieval and Japanese style, and wore thick black sunglasses and had long white beard. Since he couldn't speak, he simply shook his head in response.

'Ho ho hoo! You can look around if you like to. I had many varieties of herbs and plants here as you see,' the old owner of the shop said enthusiastically as he went to the back of the counter. 'Do you look for something specific young lad?'

The mute singer shook his head once more before he took out his notebook, scribbling down his reply and showed it to the shop keeper. **No. I just smelled the iris' scent outside so I came in here. I'm new in town, my name is Cloud Strife.**

'Ah I see. There aren't many people who would move to Eir, it's a too quiet place for young people these days, but I guess you don't really mind that do you?' The old man asked as he readjusted his glasses.

**Not really, I like it when things are calm.** Cloud wrote down, finding the old man friendly and a pleasant company, if he ever wants to be away from Zack's verbal assaults of questions.

'Ho ho hoo! There aren't many young people out there who prefer silence of a small village over the noise of music and life of a city.' The owner said with a small smile. 'Do you mind tell me where you live? Because I don't recall anyone in the village is renting their house.'

**I live with my friend in a mansion he brought at the village's outskirt.** The blond showed his answer to the man whose expression suddenly seemed to harden.

'The Sang Chateau... I see.' The old man whispered.

**Excuse me?** Cloud scribbled down in his notebook.

'The Sang Chateau, which means Blood Castle in French, was the name of the mansion where you live right now. It is what the villagers had called it for almost six centuries, because of the numerous rumors and stories that surround that place.' The owner explained in small voice, as if he was afraid that someone might overhear them.

**What rumors?**

The shop keeper took out two small empty brown leather pouches and went to the small drawers, picking a small amount of dried leaves and some sort of rice, putting them into the bags. 'Well, there are many, many memories that had been scarred on the walls of the mansion, painful and tormented ones. It was so scarred that many owners of the mansion had left or died in it within a year, some believed that the place was cursed by the angry ghosts, others believed that it was only the imaginations of the rich people who couldn't define what is real and what is fantasy and died because of some hallucinations made by themselves.'

**Then what do you believe?** Cloud wrote down. He is starting to be curious and a little scared about this whole haunting affair, but not that he really believed in ghosts and stuff, it was just... worrying. _Could the dream I had last night was somehow connected to these rumors?_

The shop keeper placed the two pouches on the counter before he replied, 'My only belief is that the mansion held too many memories for one man to carry by himself.' He pushed the bags to the mute blond. 'Take these, as a small token of my shop. If you ever had some difficulties to sleep, take it out and smelled the fresh scent of nature, it will provide you a moment in a blissful haven.'

Cloud doesn't really understand what the owner meant by "blissful haven" as he took the pouches with a flower symbol on them, but the gifts reminded him of the ones he had from his mother made for him when he was just a kid. She told him that it is a charm to calm one's spirit and protect him from evil things.

**Thank you, Mr...** The blond almost snapped his forehead with his notebook. He had completely forgotten to ask the man's name during the whole one side conversation.

'My name is Bugenhagen. Everyone around the village called me Elder sometimes, because my name is a little too long and complicate for some.' Bugenhagen explained with a small laugh.

The mute singer mouthed his thanks and left the shop with the pouches in his pockets. He was quickly joined by Zack who immediately questioned him where did he go, what was he doing, etc. _What a mother hen._ The blond thought as they made their way back to the car with their supplies.

***

The blond had never slept this well before, because when he was still a singer, he always got some late messages at night or some change of plans on his schedules that kept him awake. Now he was having a nice peaceful sleep and the flowery scent coming from the pouch he had been given helped him calming his nerves over the recent events and changes.

_Everything is so peaceful and quiet. All it needs now is a little... music?_

The same soft melodious tune he had heard in his dream now resonated in his room through the opened window. Cloud bolted up from his bed, rubbing his eyes. He went to the window and stared into the blackness of outside. _Am I dreaming again?_

His blue sapphire eyes had adjusted quickly to the darkness of night and spotted the marble pavilion, where a shadow moved gracefully on the spot. Then it was like déjà vu all over again, the mysterious stranger suddenly stopped playing his violin like the last time when he finally noticed his presence and turned to see him, and when he did everything went black before either of them could see the other's face, but this time, Cloud was able to see the man's eyes.

It was the darkest and deepest blue shade he had ever seen in his whole life. It was like the shadow's eyes were creating the abyss that is slowly taking over his vision. _**Who's there?**_ Cloud heard the same voice asked as he fell unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters.**

**Also I like thank Quiet N Cryptic, GoldenShinyWireofHope and Moiranne Rose, for their suggestions and help for my chapters. Thank you very much *bow*!**

**Chapter 1 & 2 had been repost! ****Now enjoy the new chapter!**

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The Heart of the Maze

The blue sky eyes opened in surprise as their owner bolted up from his bed in fright, cold sweat covering his forehead completely and his breathes came out unevenly. Cloud put his head in his hands as he slowly steadied his breath, just like when he had finished a song on stage.

_What the hell is that? Another dream? Or... is it real?_ The silent singer thought as he looked up at the floating curtains of the opened window. Somehow, the more he thought about it, the more the dream seemed to be real. He could remember it crystal clearly, the cold, the darkness and those... haunting eyes... beautiful, yet so... dark. _It was almost like he is... mad and he was looking at me with a hatred that seemed to be telling me that I'm the reason why he is angry._

Cloud shook his head lightly as if to clear away those thoughts in his mind as he walked out of his room and went straight towards the kitchen where a sweet smell of freshly baked pancakes and coffee came out.

'Morning Cloud,' Zack greeted him, stifling a yawn with his hand.

The blond waved his hand in greeting as he went to pour himself a nice hot coffee. He felt like he was back in his apartment, writing and rewriting songs during the whole night. Nothing helps better than having a cup of coffee in the morning to get rid of the morning migraine.

'Cloud, can I ask you something?' the raven hair man asked as he placed the pancakes with syrups on the table.

The blond made a small gesture with his hand to tell his friend to continue as he ate his own share of pancakes. Zack cleared his throat awkwardly before he said, 'Well, I understand that you still haven't really gotten over losing your voice and your music career.'

'I understand that, really!' He added when he saw the questioning look of the blond. 'It's just that... you don't need to like playing the song over and over again every night. It's not that it's not good, you played pretty great, but it's just that it's kind of getting annoying, you know. And I can't really sleep-'

_Wait, wait, time out! _Cloud put his hands up in form of a T and Zack immediately stopped his babbling. _You heard. _He pointed his ear. _The violin's music? _He pretended to be playing with an invisible violin.

'Uh, Cloud. You know the walls aren't exactly sound proof and I'm not really deaf either. So yeah, I did hear you playing the violin,' Zack replied, shaking his head in exasperation like a parent does when their children misbehaved.

_Then what I have heard and seen wasn't a dream..._ Cloud thought as he stared at the foods on his plate, wondering if he should tell Zack about his two dreams and his worries about them. _No, I can't tell him that. Zack had already done a lot for me, I can't ask him any more help._

The blond looked at his friend and mouthed a small apology that was quickly swayed away by the raven hair man who told him that he didn't really mind him practicing during the night, but he should just stop after an hour.

'Alright, then let's eat!' Zack shouted happily before he took a large bite on his pancake.

Even though the man in his dream plagued him, Cloud still smiled at his old friend's cheerfulness that could melt any frozen heart and clear the stormy weather in one's mind. _Thank you, Zack. For being there when I needed you the most._

***

After the breakfast, Cloud quickly went back to his room and changed his clothes into a black t-shirt and jeans before he headed outside to the maze garden. He had to know if what he saw in his dream was real or not or if someone was sneaking around in the garden at night and pulled a prank on him.

The green hedge walls were as high and thick as he had seen them in his dreams and the dead leaves on the ground seemed to be there forever, unmoved and untouched for years, so it's impossible that someone sneaked in during the night, because he had to leave traces of some sort behind. _Which means is either what I dreamt was real or I'm getting paranoid. Great! Very great Cloud Strife!_

The mute blond had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that his feet had carried him into the heart of the maze. He studied the structure of the small monument and the rose bushes that surround it, every single detail on them resembled to the dream ones. Then he went to inspect the folly, where right in the middle was a pedestal with a sundial on it, but the roof of the structure block the sunlight, so it can't indicate the time. _Why would someone put a sundial here?_

Cloud looked closer to the device that measured time by the position of the sun and found that stone was engraved not with roman numbers like he first thought of, but with the zodiac signs, and there is also the sun and moon symbol on it, making it looked more like an astronomy clock. _What the hell is this thing?_ The silent singer thought as he brushed off the dead leaves over the stone pedestal.

He found a small hollow space under the straight edge used for casting a shadow and few small words were carved onto the strange device, it said, '_Follow the crosses._'

_Follow the crosses? What the hell does that means?_ The blond hair boy looked around him trying to see something that might give him a hint or a sign of the meaning of these words, but nothing came to him.

After looking around the garden for another half an hour and couldn't find another carved words on the small monument, the blond decided to go back to the mansion and tried to find something to distract himself from the mysterious message, but something in his head kept telling him that the answer to the three strange words were just in front of him.

_Cloud Strife, you are really getting a little paranoid here._ The mute singer scowled at himself mentally as he went to the front door of the mansion. When he was about to push open the door, he looked at the strange cross-like insignia on the wooden door. _This insignia is a cross... It can't be this simple right?_

The blond took a few steps back to get a better look on the cross. It was made of silver, with small diamond patterns over it and nothing really seemed to be out of ordinary about it. Then he wondered if this cross might lead to whatever the person who had left the message wants him to find. _Well the message did say follow the crosses._

Remembering the exact position of the cross in his mind, he pushed the door open and walked down the hall to the staircase. _Where to now?_ He looked all over the place in search for a cross-like symbol and caught his eyes on a small marking under the windowsill of the second floor. He went closer to inspect it and let out a sigh of disappointment when he saw that it isn't a cross, but a sword and shield.

_Looks like I have been following the wrong track all along._ Cloud looked up and spotted the crimson red door at the far end of the corridor. _Wait a minute._ He walked towards the locked door and stared at the cross-like symbol. One of the wings on the cross pointed downward, while the other one pointed the left side of the wall.

_Dead end. Great, why did I even bother playing this treasure hunting game?_ Cloud thought angrily before he punched the wall to vent out some of his frustration, but when his fist connected with the wall, a loud click was heard, causing the blond to jump back in surprise, and a square-formed hole appeared that was big enough to fit a hand in it.

_What the hell._ The blond thought as he stared at the secret compartment that he had accidentally opened. He looked down the hall to see if Zack had heard the mechanic click and is coming, but no jumpy raven hair man in sight. Blue sapphire eyes studied his new found discovery for a moment before he took one hesitant step towards it and reached out to feel around the dark abyss of the hole.

His fingers moved blindly around feeling nothing, but empty air for a few seconds, and then they touched a smooth dusty surface. Cloud moved his hand around the item he had just found until he was sure he had a tight grasp and pulled it out. When he removed his hand out of the hole, it closed itself, leaving no trace of being opened or even had been there before.

Cloud blinked his eyes a few times to make sure that he hadn't been seeing things and looked down at the object he had picked up from the secret compartment. It was a small jewel box made of red oak with a five petal flower on the middle of the lid. _So this is what I was looking for? A box?_

The spiky hair singer opened the lid to find a small oblate spheroid glass with strange golden symbols all over it and a yellowish letter envelop with a red emblem seal of a falcon with a "F". He took out the small glass object to examine it closer. _A glass? What could I do- Ouch!_

The mute boy dropped the box and the glass in his hands as he felt a sharp pain on his right arm, but he couldn't see any wounds, so he decided to put pressure on the spot where the stinging feeling seemed to be coming from and tried to lessen the pain. When the pain ceased, he looked around for the item he had dropped and his eyes instantly widen in shock as he stared at the round glass now filled with a red liquid that he had a certain idea of what it might be.

Hesitant fingers slowly reached towards it like they were afraid that the bloody red glass might bite them. Cloud gulped uneasily as he grasped the item that is now holding his blood. _How is this possible?_ His blue sky eyes turned towards the letter on the floor, he quickly scooped it up and opened it carefully. The letter said:

_**Whoever finds this message, it means I am dead and I failed to accomplish my last task, to find redemption for my horrible sin. I hope you'll follow the instructions of what I'm about to give to you.**_

_**When the sun and moon finally met,**_

_**Offer the Goddess the pure water,**_

_**May her smile grace you from the Heaven,**_

_**And walk on the path of crosses.**_

_**Never look back.**_

_**Follow the path I had given you and set free the ones who I had helped imprisoned here. Free them from their misery, unlock the mysteries that are hidden deep within the mansion. I know you have the right to ignore the contents of this letter, but I do hope that you'll finish what I couldn't. Please, the one who find this letter, help me find redemption. Help me free the poor souls I had sealed. Please I beg you.**_

_**Sign, F.**_

Cloud reread the letter twice before he lowered it and wondered if he should do what it said or he should just forget it and moved on with his life, but he had a strange feeling that he must find whatever this letter might lead to. _Maybe it was really just a prank..._ The blond tried to convince himself. Yet something tells him that all this is real and he has to complete whatever the one who wrote message had set out to do.

'Cloud!' The blond hair singer jumped in surprise at the call of his name, he quickly picked up everything and hid them behind him as the raven hair man came. 'There you are. Where did you hide all day long, I search almost every room- What are you hiding at your back?'

_Nothing Zack. I'm hiding nothing at all. So just turn around and get back into your room._ Cloud thought silently as he simply shook his head to answer his friend's question.

Zack looked unconvinced for a moment before he turned around and left. The blond let out a mental sigh at his friend's departure, but when he was about to take a look at his discoveries again, the older man came back dashing towards and snatched the letter from his hand in a blink of an eye.

The blue, almost violet, eyes rapidly scanned the contents on the fragile paper before the blond took it back. A heavy silence fell between the two friends. Cloud averted the questioning gaze of his old friend as he stuffed the letter and glass back into the wooden box.

After a moment, Zack asked casually, 'So what are you going to do?'

_Huh?_ Cloud looked at Zack surprisingly, because this isn't the reaction he was expecting to hear from his friend after reading the anonymous letter. He rather expected him saying a practical joke or laughed at it, anything exaggerating than a calm casual reply!

'Don't look at me like I suddenly have two heads or something,' the former delivery boy said indignantly. 'I might not be serious all the time, but I can be when it is needed. Besides, I rather like you to have something to do and think about other stuff than nothing and sulked in your room and playing violin every night.'

The mute singer didn't know if he should be grateful for Zack's aid or he should be annoyed by his unusual sudden stupidity. _Zack, you helped me move my stuffs, if I had a violin, you would have noticed it long before you even heard a single note of music! YOU BIG HEAD IDIOT!_

Cloud took out his pen and notebook and wrote what he is planning to do.

'_First we should gather some stuff for a little "expedition"; flashlights, hammer, anything that could be useful when we are going underground and then we will wait until it is twilight before we go into the maze._ How can you be so sure that that is where we need to go?' Zack asked after he had read what the blond had written.

_I just... Know it... _The blond wanted to explain this odd feeling he kept having ever since they had entered the mansion, but he couldn't find a way to put them on paper. It was like something invisible kept pulling him around as if he was nothing but a puppet who must obey to every command that the puppet master gave. _I wonder if the previous owners had this feeling too and they got scared after a while. Scared of the haunting feeling that follows them like their own shadow._

After the two new owners of the mansion had gathered every material they needed for their little trip: a long thick rope, a large crowbar, a hammer, two bottles of water, some fire matches and flashlights. They waited for the red burning sun to set and the silent grey moon to rise.

***

When it was almost twilight, Cloud and Zack made their way through the hedge maze without getting lost or hit a dead end.

'How long did you spend in this labyrinth?' The black hair man asked as they approached the marbled pavilion. 'I mean, even I will get lost inside here.'

The blond didn't answer, because he doesn't even know how he got them here so quickly. He slowly walked to the pedestal with Zack behind him and examined the hollow space he had found early this morning that had the exact shape as the glass that was now filled with his own blood. He slowly took it out of his pocket and inserted the glass into the hole.

"_When the sun and moon finally met."_ Cloud recited in his mind as the light from both the sun and moon shone on the round glass. _"Offer the Goddess the pure water."_ The bloody liquid suddenly glowed brightly and the red light covered every symbol on the pedestal and traced all the way down to the stone ground. _"May her smile grace you from Heaven." _The blond slightly traced the outline of the zodiac symbol representing Virgo, the only zodiac sign that represent by the image of a woman, a goddess.

As soon as his finger finished tracing the sign, several loud mechanic clicks started under the two men's feet. They jumped back in surprise when the pedestal shook and moved away to reveal a long dark staircase that was hidden underneath it. The silent blond carefully removed the vial containing his blood as his friend opened his flashlight.

Zack swept its light around the slimy stairs and walls, as he slowly moved down first, followed by Cloud who spotted several cross-like symbols aligned on both sides of the humid stone wall. _"And walk the path of crosses." But what does the last sentence means by "Never look back"?_

The thought of the last sentence doesn't give any comfort to the blond. He wrapped his fingers around the leather flowery pouch he had in his pockets and tried his best to shake off this bad feeling he is having until a loud and resonating thud sounded behind them. The two men turned around just in time to see their only exit sealed itself. Now they are trapped in this dark and terrible underground.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. Sorry for the long wait!**

* * *

No Turning Back

Cloud swept his light around the walls, trying to find a secret switch that might open the secret passage again, while Zack kept pushing and pushing with all his strength the closed entrance, then he fell onto the stairs with a heavy sigh as he said, 'It's no use. I can't open it. Find anything, Cloud?'

The blond looked at his friend and shook his head. _There aren't any cracks or bricks misplaced here._ He turned around to look at the dark abyss that the stairs lead to. _And going down is the only option we have right now._

As if he had read his thoughts, Zack stood up and said as cheerily as he can, 'Don't worry. I'm sure that things are going to be alright. After all, when there is a way in, there is a way out! Besides we won't really be like having some big sharp teeth monsters coming after us in this hole.'

_Unless you count the "dead" that might be sleeping down there._ Cloud added mentally as they descended deeper and deeper into the darkness, with their flashlight as their only source of light.

Everything around looked all the same to the two adventurers, every turn and step they took seemed to lead back to where they had began. After walking for what seemed like hours, they had stumbled upon a large round chamber filled with twelve grey stone statues representing men and women, each one holding a weapon or a small object in their cold hands.

Zack let out a low whistle as he approached the closest statue and said, 'These statues looked pretty real.'

_It is way too real you mean. _The voiceless singer wanted to say as he looked up at the expressionless faces made of stone. All of them were looking down at them like judges from Heaven who are about to sentence them to a death penalty or something much worse.

'Let's take a rest here for a few minutes, Cloud. And then we could go look for the exit again,' the raven hair man suggested as he took out his bottle of water and sat down next to the statue of a woman in a long ceremonial robes holding a chalice. The blond nodded his head as he studied the small chamber.

_There is no way that someone built a chamber in the middle of a stupid underground maze just for the look. _The blond thought as he pointed his flashlight upward to inspect the ceilings, trying to see if there is something abnormal, but he found nothing bizarre above their heads, only a painting of a sun and moon filled with the same strange symbols that are on the round glass ball in his pocket.

_Wait a minute. "When the sun and moon finally met."_ Cloud recited mentally, looking at the paintings with new interest. _"Offer the Goddess the pure water."_

There are in total six statues representing women, but only two of them held an item that could be used to contain water. The one next to Zack and the one next to the entrance of the chamber that represented a woman holding an broken urn up at shoulder-length to pour something out. _But which one is it?_

'What is it, Cloud?' Zack asked, seeing the singer's thoughtful face. The blond took out his notepad and scribbled down what he was thinking.

'Ok, so what does the next line says?' asked his friend. Cloud immediately handed him the sheet that contained the poem. '"May her smile grace you from the Heaven." Well... Maybe this is a hint of some kind and we have to find the statue that is smiling and that could hold the water.'

_I think so too, but..._ The voiceless singer looked around him with a grim expression. _None of these statues are even smiling._

Cloud shook his head exasperatedly as Zack, who is obviously oblivious of the fact, studied the face of the closest stone sculpture closely. Sometimes, he really hated Zack's obliviousness, but he was also envying of him for being so ignorant and easygoing in his life. _An innocent guy lives an innocent life and a miserable guy lives a miserable life. That's how life works._

The blond looked away from his friend and studied the gloomy surroundings again, searching for some clues that could help them finish their business in here and get out of this hell hole. _There must be something in here that matches the letter._

All the sculptures are placed to face the middle of the room; the male ones held the weapons and the female ones held small items, except one of them is holding a shield in her left hand and a sheathed sword, the other hand was extended forward like a beggar asking for money. The more Cloud stared at it, the more he thought something was wrong with it. _Why did the sculptor make this statue looks less superior to the others?_

Then the blond hair man noticed some kind of scratch on the lifeless palm and went closer to the stone-made woman. The scratch was in fact a small cross-insignia resembling to the ones at the entrance of the underground maze. Also, now that he was only inches away from the face of the cold figure, he noticed the thin line of the lips was slightly tilted upward, making a tiny and unnoticeable smile.

_Well, she definitely matched the descriptions..._ Cloud thought as he pulled out his bottle of water. _Hope this works._

The silent singer uncapped the lid and poured the water onto the symbol, which almost instantly shone in bright red, turning the clear liquid into crimson blood. The blood overflowed the stone hand and dripped down to the floor, drawing strange signs all over the center circular room.

The raven hair man was walking towards the younger man as he asked, 'What the hell?! Cloud, what did-'

_ZACK! _Cloud screamed in his mind as he saw his friend stepped on the glowing circle and disappearing through the floor. He flashed his flashlight around the ground where his friend was standing just seconds before.

'I'M OK CLOUD!' Zack's voice rang in the room, then his head stuck out of the floor and he waved at him, which almost caused a small heart attack. On the other hand Cloud let out a relieved sigh.

_One more surprise like that and I might join my mother in Heaven._ The spiky hair singer mused as he glared at his friend, who was laughing at his shocked face, and carefully walked around the center circle until he reached the spot where Zack's head is.

'Don't worry. I'll catch you if you fall,' the porcupine hair man reassured before his head sunk back into the floor.

_Here goes nothing._ Cloud thought as he took a deep breath and jumped into the circle. It was pretty much like jumping into icy cold water, but without the water, when his body went through the floor and onto the slippery stone stairs under it, causing him to lose his balance, but he was quickly caught at the wrist by Zack before he might fall to his death.

'Be careful, Cloud. The whole freaking staircase is covered in slime.' The black spiky hair man said as he pulled his friend back from the edge. Then the two men carefully walked down the long spiral staircase until they reached the more or less slimy floor at the bottom where there is a heavy-looking metal double door on the other side of the stairs. 'Well that wasn't so bad.'

_I'll say that only when we're back to the top side._ The voiceless man silently thought as they went towards the double door and each of them gasped one of the two handles before they pulled with all their strength. The doors opened wide enough for them to slip in and took a quick swept around the small chamber with their flashlight.

'WHAT THE FUCK!' Zack yelled out in surprise, while Cloud just stared wide eye at the object hang about a few feet above the floor, a stone coffin chained by many red blood chains.

The two men slowly walked to the middle of the chamber without taking their eyes off the chained coffin as Zack whispered, 'Do you think a secret dark cult did this?'

Cloud glared at his friend angrily, wanting to ask sarcastically. _Do I look like a dark priest to you?_

Seeing the madden face of the blond, the black hair man quickly apologized. Spotting a mechanism which all the chains attached to, scratching the back of his neck nervously he asked, 'Think we should bring that thing down?'

_Well, I don't like the idea of disturbing the dead, but still, we have to finish what we came here for._ After thinking for a few more minutes, Cloud nodded his head in approval. Both of them took the handle on either side of the mechanic and slowly rotated them, making the chains over the stone coffin to lower until it had finally touched the ground after being hanged on the ceiling for who knows how long.

The top of the casket was filled with black ugly spiders and dusty webs. The two adventurers dusted off the ages collected on the lid as Zack said in between his sneezes, 'I-ach... don't know what you-achoo... think, but I hate cleaning!'

_Tch. That's because you never cleans things up! I bet all of my pocket money that it's always your mother who did the cleaning!_ Cloud shouted angrily in his mind as he swept his hand over the thick layer of dust more forcefully.

When they finally got off at least half of the cobwebs and dust accumulated on the lid, Cloud lifted up his flashlight so that they could see the coffin more clearly in the dark. The sides of the lid were carved with decorative symbols of some kind of ancient language similar to the Norse's, but there are some other forms of letters among them, and a small slot in the middle.

_Again?_ Cloud let out a mental sigh as he pulled out the glass that held his blood and carefully inserted it into the slot. _Please. No more big surprise. I don't think I'll live to see another day if I see another set of stairs or a secret chamber!_

To his surprise and slightly small disappointment, nothing happen, only a small swift wind blew across the room. _Wait. The wind?_ The two men turned their gaze towards the door and felt the soft breeze again. _If there is wind, than there is a way out and that means there is a chance we might be able to go out!_

Sky blue eyes turned to look at the sea blue ones, Zack wore his widest grin as he said, 'Cloud, I think we have just unlock our way out!'

The blond nodded his head vigorously, feeling extremely relieved that the exit was opened. While Zack quickly got out of the chamber, he stayed next to the coffin and muttered a few small prayers for the one resting inside the stone casket before leaving the small tomb, but as he went up, he felt the temperature raising.

_Strange... Why is it suddenly warmer?_ The retired singer thought as he went through the barrier between the staircase and the room of statues, only to bump into Zack's back. _ZACK! WHAT... the... hell?_

Somehow, when he was inside the tomb, he really wanted to get out and leave whatever spirit that is trapped inside to rot, but now, it seemed to more welcomed and less freighting than what's floating, or rather hanging, above them. Cloud could feel his stomach doing a somersault as his eyes lingered on the _thing_, a giant-ugly-eight-legged-freaky-fat-hairy spider!

'Cloud moved back slowly and silently,' Zack whispered in a tone so calm and serious that made Cloud wondered if he had participated in a war or something before he became a delivery boy.

_Yeah, right. Like you are a monster expert or even a soldier, but I won't argue about going back downstairs._ The blond thought as he carefully took a small step back at the same time as his raven hair friend and sank back through the barrier.

When both of them were almost hidden behind the barrier, part of the old stair suddenly broke apart and fell to the base floor with a loud bang that is soon followed with a loud and horrible shriek.

'RUN!' The dark hair man yelled as both of them stumbled down the now less-stable and slimy stairs as fast as they could, but the sounds of their feet running were soon joined with a loud thuds and eerie shrieks. 'DON'T LOOK BACK CLOUD! JUST KEEP RUNNING!'

As they near the bottom of the stairs, the monster was already behind them, so without much choice, Zack pushed them off the stairs as the mouth of giant insect clamped shut where their head would have been, the two of them landed on the ground hard.

The black spiky hair man quickly got up and dragged Cloud away just in time before he got crushed by the gigantic insect that had jumped down from the stairs. Suddenly the creature started screeched loudly as if it was in pain.

_What the heck?_ Cloud looked confusingly at the hairy monster wiggling its two front feet frenetically over its black eyes. Then he saw something silver flashed among the brown fur between the eight black orbs, a small trail of some dust-like powder dropped to the floor and he soon realized that it was dry rice.

The blond touched his pocket and found that it was tore opened when the creature had jumped on him. He looked down at the feet of the giant spider to see his leather pouch laid opened with half of its content spilled on the floor. _"It will provide you a moment in a blissful haven." So that's what Bugenhagen means!_

'Come on Cloud!' Zack shouted as he pulled his friend into the tomb and closed the double door.

_But how do we get out now?_ Cloud thought as he turned to look around the resting chamber, touching the walls to see if there was another secret passage, but the whole room was just like a dungeon that will not let any prisoner escapes. _Damn! We trap ourselves in!_

Then loud bangs could be heard outside and both of them turned to see the metal door forming bumps as the monster on the other side was trying to break in. Zack put his hand over the younger man's shoulder and whispered into his ear, 'Cloud, when this thing gets in, I want you to run as fast as you can and don't look back, I'll distract it as long as I can!'

Sapphire eyes turned to stare at the raven hair man incredulously and shook his head negatively, not wanting to leave his friend here with this thing, not wanting this tomb becoming Zack's, not wanting to lose another person who is like his family... there are so many thing he did not want to happen, but their time is running short as the metal doors started to bend in odd angles.

The older man took the shoulders of the blond in his hands and shook him as he said, 'Cloud! Just trust me! I can deal with this thing!'

As soon as Zack finished his sentence, the door burst opened and something white shot towards them. Both men jumped away from each other just in time before some kind of white sticky substance hit them, but the monster swung out his foot and hit Zack hard on the stomach, crashing him onto the wall.

_Zack!_ The blond was about to run to his friend's side, but the monster swapped him with its foot and send him to the ground next to coffin. Hurt and disoriented, Cloud found his vision starting to become very blurry and his whole body was screaming in pain, he slowly pushed himself up, using the casket as a support, his vision was soon covered in deep red and all the sounds around him seemed so far.

He felt so tired and so weak. He really wanted to just lie down and die, but he had a promise to keep, a vow to his deceased mother, he swore that he'll live on happily no matter what happens. _I WANT TO LIVE!_ He screamed out in his mind as he slammed his hand hard on the lid of the coffin.

Suddenly a bright red light exploded in the room, causing the blond to lose his balance and fell to the floor. Cloud cringed at the sharp pain on his palm. He looked down at his hand and saw several glass shards impaled on his skin. He turned his gaze back to the crimson light and let out a surprised gasp.

Even though he couldn't see things very clearly, he could still see the slim shadowy figure who he had seen in his dream rose from the coffin and a large single black wing stretched out from his back, glowing crimson eyes stared at the eight-legged monster with hatred, so powerful that Cloud felt his lungs having difficulties to absorb the air.

'_**Die. You foul beast.**_' The figure said in a slightly distorted voice as he pointed his index finger towards the creature and it immediately engulfed in flames. The fire licked every inch of the giant spider that let out one final shriek before it fell into a pile of black ash.

When the flames died out, the dark figure turned his bloodlust-possessed gaze to Cloud as he spoke in a hoarse voice, '_**Blood... blood... give me... your... blood...**_'

He reached out with his clawed hand and took the injured hand of the blond, who struggled weakly, in a tight grip as while the shadow inched forward, showing his long sharp fangs. Sapphire eyes widen as their owner started to struggle harder, but all of it was in vain. The fangs are almost on the beating vein on his wrist.

_NO!_ Cloud yelled out in his mind as his free hand slapped the bloodlust demon's face with all the strength he could muster and his fingers had left a small bloody scratch on the pale cheek, which surprise both of them. A tiny droplet of blood fell into the injured palm of the blond and the same bright crimson light that had appeared when the blood-craved demon awaken enveloped them.

The mute man felt his remaining strength drained out of him as his vision is starting fade to black. Right before the eyelids fell over the blue orbs, the blond was able to see the same azure blue eyes that he had seen in his dream, but they no longer held a single trace of hatred.

* * *

**It had been very difficult to continue the story with all the works I had, but I still manage it! I hope all of you had enjoyed the story so far! Please review and tell me what you think about it, it's very appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. Enjoy the newest chapter!**

* * *

A Reason to Live?

After spending what seemed to be an eternity in the darkness did Cloud finally opened his eyes and greeted the bright light of his room with a grimace. He quickly covered his eyes from brightness of the lamp with his left hand as he let out a heavy sigh. _Another dream? And a long one too? I really need to get some stronger coffee one of these days, if I- ugh..._

The blond felt a sharp pain on his palm when he tried to get up, he quickly lifted his right hand to find it wrapped in fresh white bandages tainted with a few red dots of blood. _How did... Did I... Does that mean..._ Dozen of question whirled around inside the skull of the singer as memories of lustful eyes and pointy fangs flashed before his eyes.

Instinctively, he raised his hands towards his fragile neck and inspecting every inch and angle, trying to feel two holes that represented the loss of his poor innocent soul to a devil, but there was nothing. _Ok, I'm alright. I'm still alive._

'THANK GAIA! YOU'RE ALRIGHT!' Cloud looked up to see Zack standing next to the doorframe, his left arm was wrapped in bandages and a few stitches covered one of his cheek, but other than that he seemed fine and kicking.

The raven hair man pulled up at a chair and sat next to him, ruffling Cloud's yellow spikes as he asked, 'How are you feeling, Spike?'

_I'll be fine when you stop messing with my hair!_ The mute man wanted to yell as he snapped away the hand from his already messy hair.

'Well I see you can still move, so I guess that bastard wasn't completely lying after all,' Zack muttered in low voice with a certain hint of anger.

_Bastard? Who are you talking about?_ Sky blue eyes stared at the man questionably. The older man saw this and explained in fast-speed, 'You see, when I woke up, I saw this guy holding you. You seemed half-dead. And as your best friend, I quickly got up to defend you of course, even though I was injured and all. Anyway, when I was about to punch the hell out of him, he told me that he saved us and that you aren't going to die, you are just tired. I thought he was lying of course, so I just took us back to the mansion. Oh by the way, he is sleeping on the couch in the living room.'

Cloud was pretty amaze at how fast his friend could say so many things in sixty seconds and how he could understand everything that came out of his mouth, instead of asking to say it again slowly. Then he snapped out of his musing, remembering the sharp canines and sanguine eyes, he looked at the window to find the sky filled with stars and a round moon hang on the dark sky. _Ok, if that guy is a vampire or something, then..._

The blond quickly jumped out of his bed, ignoring the aches he is getting from moving his stiff bruising muscles, and ran down the downstairs in lightning speed before making a sudden halt, that almost caused him to fall off the stairs, as the subject of his worried thought stood at the bottom of the steps. The man had auburn hair and he was handsome, but in a rather cold way and because of the long black leather coat, shirt and tight leather pant he was wearing, his skin looked as pale as the moon itself, making him more like the undead he was suppose to be than the living human right now. A silver dagger-like earring hung on his right ear and he wore a similar pendant with a wing around his neck.

Their eyes met, one filled with the warmth of the sun, the other was covered in a layer of frozen ice. The stranger looked at him rather coldly as he walked towards him and said, 'I see you are awake and well, then I suggest that both of you leave _my_ mansion right now.'

'Hey! Hold it right there!' Zack shouted out at the second floor as the auburn hair vampire walked passed him and headed back to corridor they came from. 'We own this mansion legally and you aren't in the list of owners!'

'This mansion was built by me and my friends. So as you said,' the undead man stopped and turned around, causing both owner of the mansion to bump into each other. '_I own this mansion legally_.'

The way the creature of the night sneered those words made Cloud shivered involuntarily, it reminded him the hatred he had seen in the tomb before he fainted, it was cold and dark. It scared him of course, but at the same time, he found himself wondering. _Why so much hate?_

'Why don't you try being sealed inside a coffin for four hundred years and then come back and tell me if you feel any kind of hatred to the one who imprisoned you?' the auburn hair man spat at him, which surprised both him and Zack, who just stared back at the retreating vampire as if he was a wild mad man.

Snapped out of their reverie, they quickly ran after the vampire who had stopped right in front of the crimson door with his hand over the cross. When they was only a few feet from him, a red glowing pentacle with the same signs on the barrier of the chamber of statues appeared on the door for a brief moment before it was shattered into pieces like a broken mirror.

'What a weak pathetic seal spell,' the vampire muttered under his breath as he opened the door and stepped inside the dark and unused room, quickly followed by the two humans. Then he clapped his hands three times and the candles that are placed around the chamber lit up all at once magically.

The two mortals were more surprised by the fact that the room hadn't even been touch by the Father of Time than by the magic that the vampire had done before them. The table, the books on the selves, the chairs, everything looked as if it was all placed just yesterday.

'A frozen time spell?' the vampire muttered softly, then his eyes narrowed as something on the red oak table started glowed and the image of a transparent man was materialized in front of them. This person seemed to be in his late thirties, wearing some kind of dark green and snow white ceremonial robes with leaves patterns on them, with short brown hair and mustache, he also wore a pair of round glass over his russet eyes.

'Who are you?' the nocturne creature demanded angrily, but didn't received any response.

The transparent man ignored the threatening tone that the vampire had used completely and spoke in a soft calming tone, 'If you are able to open this chamber, then I assume you have freed Krusnik from his prison. I thank whoever you are greatly.' He bowed at them. 'However, your quest is not over yet.'

_WHAT!_ Cloud yelled in his mind, while Zack looked as if he'll collapsed in any seconds from everything that had happened so far and the vampire, Krusnik, seemed really interested by what the transparent being had said than being surprised.

'Inside this mansion, there are still two people who are imprisoned inside their own domain, the way to free is harder the first one you had accomplished, but I'm sure Krusnik would offer you his help to save the others, since his desire to save them will be his utmost priority.' If looks can kill someone, then the one that Krusnik was throwing at the brown hair man could burn him to Hell. 'So I ask... no... I'm begging you once more to accept this task.'

The transparent person dropped to his knees and clapped his hands together as he continued, 'Please, I am ready to burn in depth of Hell in exchange of your service. Please save them. I beg you.'

Suddenly a low crashing sound echoed in the room, the not-very-visible man looked behind him in horror before he turned his attention back to them and whispered hurriedly, 'Look for the Seven Keys created from the ash of the Fallen Angel, they will free the soul chosen by the Battle Maiden.'

After telling them the mysterious riddle, the man vanished and the item on the table that was shining all along the one-side conversation stopped its glow. The three of them stood still for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. _All I ever asked was a new peaceful life, but now everything is turning into some kind of hellish nightmare chase. I should have known to mind my own business._

'You probably should, since you're so weak and fragile. Like a puppet without its wires, useless and broken.' Krusnik said casually as he examined a small amber stone that was on the table. 'Or better yet, a rat that ran in hiding whenever it hears a sound?'

This comment infuriated Cloud to no end. He turned around, grabbing the black collar of the vampire's shirt and pushed him against the table as he mentally snapped. _YOU STAY OUT OF MY MIND! MY THOUGHTS ARE MINE TO HEAR ONLY, NOT FOR YOU! SO STOP READING MY MIND!__RIGHT NOW!_

'Oh really, am I so invading for your _personal space_?' the auburn hair man said in low voice filled with malice as he inched closer until their face were only a breath apart. 'Then should I go further inside your memories and revealed every pathetic failure you accomplished, even those that you had sealed into the deepest shadow of your mind? Shall I continue to explore and to remind you of all of your darkest thoughts before letting you drown into regret?'

The image of a bright white room flashed inside Cloud's mind before seeing the clawed hand of the vampire coming towards his face, he immediately let go of the collar and stepped back as fast as he could before he could be touched, his breathes came out as irregular pants. He felt the air in the room thicken, it was becoming harder for him to breath, the walls and the furniture looked suddenly bigger than when they came in, every sound around him was muffled by cries of sadness and anger coming inside his mind. _This all is my fault._

The blond ran outside and covered his ears with his hands, trying to turn off the unbearable noises in his mind. He didn't know where he was running to, nor did he even care, because he needed to escape and to find a place to hide his now useless existence. After running down the stairs, he opened the first door to find himself outside in the cold air of the night, but he didn't stop and just continued towards the hedge maze in front of him.

It was only when he arrived to the heart of the labyrinth that Cloud had stopped to catch his breath, sitting down next to the rose bushes, welcoming the burns that were covering his whole being with delight. The heat and pain of his skin, lungs and bones temporarily distract the voiceless singer from his memories as he looked up at the pale yellow moon. _It's so quiet... just like back then..._

A gentle wind picked up some dried red petals and orange leaves, the yellow spikes fluttered at the small breeze as the gaze of the soft blue hues were soon lost among the grey spots on the moon. Then waves of memories washed over the silent man, one after another, each one hit him harder than the last, all the things he wanted to forget were coming back to haunt him and he was all alone to fight them.

'Cloud?' Someone gently called out to the blond hair man.

The retired singer looked up to see his friend standing in front of him. Worries were written all over the youthful face as the kind eyes stared at him. Cloud looked away from the concerned blue orbs of his friend, he didn't want to be seen weak nor does he wanted to be pity, as he silently wished to be blown away by the wind just like the small red petals of the roses.

Zack slowly knelt down next to him, as if he was approaching an injured animal, and he asked softly, 'Are you alright?'

The blond kept his gaze away from his friend, he flinched when the raven hair man touched his cheek and it was then that he felt the dampness on his cheek. His hands reached up and whipped away the tears he didn't know he had shed. Cloud felt like a stupid idiot who didn't know how to take care of himself. He kept rubbing his face, almost like trying to peel his own skin out of him.

'Hey, hey, hey,' Zack gently took the younger man's hands, pulling them away from the face of the blond as he looked into the teary eyes of his sad childhood friend with a small comforting grin. 'It's ok to cry Cloud. At least let it all out, you'll feel better this way.'

The retired singer made a small scribbling movement with his hands to his friend who immediately took out a pen and a notepad for him. The blond breathed in slowly, calming his beating heart and agitated spirit, before he wrote. **Zack, did I fail to do what my mother had asked to? Did I let her down?**

'Cloud, what happened in the past wasn't your fault. You didn't let anybody down. You... you have done everything as best as you could and... this isn't failure... it is accomplishment,' Zack said calmly.

**Zack. My mom died because of me. If I had given up to become a singer and kept working hard on our flower shop, then she might not have died. I was the one who killed her.** The silent singer wrote down as he started to remember what had happened that day when his mother died.

That day, he was going to participate in a big singing contest that held a five million cash price. He needed the money for the medical operation of his mother, since their flower shop couldn't provide the necessary amount of cash for it. His mother had a brain tumor and her soul was quietly slipping away from the living each day, it is hurting both of them, both physically and mentally. Before he gone to the contest, the ill woman gave him the jade necklace which was her good luck charm, hoping that the Goddess of Luck would be with him, and told him to live his life happily even though it might be tough at some point.

Cloud took his chance in the contest to get the money that could save his only family and he came out victorious, with the price and a free-way ticket to popularity when he caught one of the judges attention, but when he got to the hospital, the doctor appointed to his mother announced to him that she died just before he entered the building. At that moment, he lost the only thing he had ever cared and loved for more than anything the whole wide world. He left his loved one dying, while he was singing on the stage of a stupid contest!

Ever since, he poured his own soul into making songs, living his life to its fullest, so that he could tell his mother whenever he visited to visit her grave that he had accomplish what she had told him to, until the damn accident happened and shattered everything. Now he had nothing left. He is all alone in this world where people wouldn't see him.

**I'm just a ghost. I don't have anything else that ties me to this world. With my mother gone, I'm just an orphan, I don't have anyone else.** Cloud could feel the tears stinging his eyes as he finished his sentence. He felt very tired to continue living in a world where he was an outcast, he really wished to die and be reunited with his mother again. Krusnik was right about him. He was just trying to run away from his dark past by locking everything in his mind instead of facing them.

'That's not true, Cloud,' Zack said softly as he brushed away the tears, regarding his friend sadly. 'You're not alone Cloud. If you ever feel tired to continue your fight with life, then you can count on me to hold you up. I promise I'll be there whenever you need a hand.'

The raven hair man quickly jumped up and offered his hand to the surprised singer with a warm smile as he said, 'So no more tears, alright?'

The blond hair man blinked his eyes a few times before a small grateful smile was drawn on his face as he thought. _Yeah, that's right. I still have Zack with me. I'm not really alone in my life. I still have something that ties me to this world, a reason to continue to exist._

He mouthed a small thank you as he took hold of his friend's hand and was quickly pulled back up to his feet, freeing from his inner-torment and bringing him back on track to face the new reality. _Thank you Zack._

'_It is such a pity that I missed my meal,_' a distorted voice resonated in the garden. Both men looked up to see a scaled humanoid creature kneeling on the top of the pavilion. It had green scales covering the top of his body and red ones over the lower part and its long tail, it got sharp bird-like talons, there are also red feathers around his arms and its head looked like a mix a chameleon and of a peacock.

'_And I thought I could eat a delicious heart filled with desperation and loneliness. It's so sad that I can't taste that bitter sweetness anymore. Oh well, that doesn't change the fact that I am still hungry, would you mind that I take bite at your heart?_' the bizarre creature asked innocently to the younger of the two humans, who were both slowly backing away. '_Oh, don't be shy. I'm not going to hurt you _yet_. Why don't we play hide and seek for now?_'

Suddenly the monster vanished without a trace. Both humans tensed and looked around them, back against back, as the disembodied voice echoed in the vast air, '_Marco... Polo... Marco... Polo... Where am I?_'

'I hate hide and seek,' Cloud could hear Zack muttered under his breath and he just rolled his eyes at his friend's childish behavior.

_When you are facing the giant hairy spider, you acted like an old experienced soldier. Now in front of a goddamn invisible lizard guy, you are acting just like every time you play hide and seek with me, pouting like a puppy! Gaia! Zack, you are going to get me killed one of these days! _The voiceless singer thought with annoyance as he studied his surroundings carefully, trying to find the invisible creature.

Then Cloud heard something shuffling on his right, he turned his head to that direction, only to be hit by something as hard as a rock and was thrown to the ground disoriented. His eyes could barely make out the outline of the lizard man, the horrible laugh and the voice of his friend calling out his name weakly seemed like an echo. The wounds over his whole body all seemed to reopen as he felt some wet fresh blood running down his forehead, while he steadily pushed himself up.

Then a loud screech sounded in the night sky, the blond snapped his head up to see what's going on around him, with only his left eye opened because the other was covered in blood, but he was surprised to see Krusnik standing in front of him, in hand was the tail of the humanoid creature.

'What a pathetic being you are, not even being able to handle loosing your own tail,' scoffed the auburn hair vampire as he threw the long scaled tail to the ground. 'Gaia. Did the monsters have turned into such weaklings during my sleep?'

'Cloud!' Zack yelled as he immediately ran to his sides and inspected his injures. 'You're ok, how many fingers do I have?'

_I'm fine Zack, just a little sore..._ Cloud thought as he battered away his friend's hand. The black spiky hair man helped him get up as the lizard man snarled at the vampire who still looked unfazed by his opponent.

'_Me? Pathetic? You haven't seen my true strength yet vampire!_' the monster spat before an orange aura enveloped it, its body started to grow bigger, the claws and scales became sharper than before. Before the trio had the time to blink, the lizard man had turned into a giant komodo dragon with red skeleton wings and a new grown tail with spikes at the end.

'Shit!' Zack cursed out loud as he pushed his mute companion and himself away just in time before the large tail hit the very ground where they were standing a few seconds ago. Krusnik just jumped way from the strike and landed gracefully on the hedge above to the two humans. 'Hey! Land somewhere else! We don't need a giant four-legged lizard on our tail!'

'Shouldn't _you_ two go somewhere else? You are both in my way,' the vampire replied smoothly, making Zack's face redden in anger as he shouted dozen of curses to the blood-sucking creature.

_Or both of you should move!_ Cloud screamed out mentally as he jumped away, pulling Zack with him in the process, from the swinging tail. Krusnik simply did a mid-air flip to dodge that attack, but before his feet could touch the ground, the monster gave him a powerful swipe in the stomach, sending into the nearest rose bushes where the thorns dug into the pale skin of the immortal creature. The blond hair singer didn't know if it was his imagination or the red petals of the flowers are turning redder every second.

'_Well, well, well. Lucky me. Looks like the Night Roses are doing a fine job holding you down for me. I'll just have to wait till they suck out all of your strength before I bite your head off,_' the monstrous entity said casually like he was talking about the weather and settled itself on the ground, watching the vampire struggling against the plants that was slowly wrapping around him. Then he turned his red gaze to the two humans. '_And both of you should enjoy the show before it's your turn._'

The raven hair man cursed under his breath as his eyes darted left and right, searching for a way for the two of them to escape. The voiceless singer paid no mind to what the monster had said, nor was he thinking about getting out of this place, he was simply staring at the vampire whose eyes seemed glow fainter and fainter.

Cloud couldn't understand nor figured out what Krusnik was thinking. The vampire kept telling him that he was weak and struggling to live in a world that he is scared of, but what about himself? Krusnik was now fighting to live, wasn't he? Isn't that what all living being in the world does? Keep on fighting for survival?

The mute man quickly ran to the vampire, ignoring the warning calls from Zack, and started to pull off some of the thorny vines that are attached to the pearl white skin of Krusnik like blood-sucking leeches.

_**What in the Hell's name are you doing?**_ Cloud heard the weakening vampire asked in his mind as the thorns cut his hands, but he paid no mind to pain and continued his task.

_What does it look like I'm doing?_ The blond replied sternly as he brutally ripped off one of the woody stems that had dug into the vampire's arm. _Gardening?_

_**In a matter of speaking, yes.**_ Krusnik replied as he used his now free hand to torn off the restrictions on his other arm, while glancing at the enormous monster in front of them out of the corner of his eye.

Giant komodo dragon-like creature didn't seem to mind the aid that had came for the vampire as Zack joined the duo, in fact it was amused by the effort that the two humans put to help the creature of the night as it said, '_And you said that _I _was weak vampire, but the truth is, _you_ are the weak one. Needing puny humans' help, what an insult to our kind!_'

The azure blue eyes of the undead grew darker as they glared at the enormous reptile and muttered some kind of curse in another language that Cloud couldn't quite understand, but it sounded familiar.

_So what if you need our help?_ The blond asked mentally, the burning blue gaze immediately turned to him. _You want to live right? So stop being so prideful and all! Everyone needs helps at least once in their life! I don't want to die! I want to live!_

Suddenly his bandaged hand started to glow in crimson red, the light had caused both Zack and the reptilian monster to back away slightly from brightness, and at the same time Krusnik's pendant reacted to it, the platinum dagger turned into a bloody garnet. _What's going on? What's happening to my hand?_ Cloud shouted in his mind as he stared at the strange winged glyph drawn on his palm.

_**Pull off my necklace! Do it! Now!**_ Krusnik growled angrily when Cloud didn't response to his demand. The blond took hold of the piece of jewelry and yanked it off. Almost instantly, a crimson aura surrounded the vampire and his whole body changed. The canines turned into razor-sharp fangs, the cold icy blue hues turned into fiery red slit eyes, the color of the shoulder-length hair turned into a darker shade, the lowered part of the leather coat was tattered and a black wing emerged from his back.

The two human witnesses of the scene were so shocked that they couldn't utter a single sound in front of this powerful creature of the night while the demon lizard stuttered, '_So what? Y-you turn into yo-your real form, it do-doesn't matter. The Night Rose will still absorb... your... strength..._'

The amber eyes widen in surprises as their owner saw that the roses are all dry up and dead. The vampire smirked at his cowering opponent as he explained, 'The Night Roses might absorb the essence of life of any creature existed on Earth, but there is only one race that they can't not harm, the humans.'

'_But yo-you are a vam-vampire! The Night Rose should have regarded you as food!_' the reptile shouted in panic as the auburn hair undead took slow graceful steps towards it.

'Not only you are weak in strength, your brain is pretty much useless. Who says that I am a vampire?' the winged man asked coldly, his eyes burning in immense hatred.

Then Krusnik snapped his fingers and red flames wrapped the giant reptilian like chains, scorching the scales and burning the flesh underneath the armor. The undead walked closer to the dying monster and whispered, 'I'm a Krusnik.'

'_Impossible... A Krusnik... possessing the power of the undead?! Arg!_' the creature growled out with its final breath as the fire spread like poison around its scaled body and soon nothing was left of the monster, only the black scotches on the ground.

_So Krusnik isn't your name, but your race?_ Cloud asked the winged man through his thoughts.

'You can talk Cloud?!' Zack suddenly yelled in surprise. The blond turned to stare at his friend incredulously before he tried to make some sounds, but nothing came out of his lips. 'Huh? But I did hear you say something!'

The confused singer put a hand over his throat, wondering why Zack could hear his voice when he is still mute. Then he thought that his friend wasn't hearing what he was saying, but what he was thinking about. Still that doesn't really explain how he could hear his thoughts.

'Krusniks are humans who are born with the power to fight the vampires and other being from the world of undead. We have strength, speed and intelligence that suppressed those of an average human being, making it possible for us to connect to others' mind with ours,' the auburn hair man explained before he looked deep into the sapphire eyes of the blond.

Cloud gulped nervously, he doesn't like the way that this immortal man looked at him, because it reminded him of the predatory gaze of a feline beast he had seen in books. He took up some of his courage and asked as strong as he could in his mind. _That explain what you are, but that had nothing to do with me._

'Oh everything does. When you have unsealed me from the coffin, you mix part of my blood with yours, forming a blood pact between us,' the older man took hold of his wrist and lifted it up, so they could both see the blood soaked bandages of his injured hand with the garnet jewel. 'Because of that pact, both your soul and mine were connected and part of the powers that was within me is now inside of you. Also, because of this pact, the ancient seal on this necklace that kept my true form at bait was now half broken, so I could only turn into this form when _you _removed it with _your _blood.'

_That's why Zack said that he could hear my voice? Because your powers are in me that I was able to project my thoughts to his mind?_ The voiceless singer asked mentally to the Krusnik before looking back at his childhood friend to confirm that he could hear what he thought as Zack continued to stare at him in shock.

_I guess that answers my question._ Cloud muttered in his mind, turning his attention back to the winged man. _So what's your name, if it's not Krusnik?_

'Genesis. Genesis Rhapsodos,' the Krusnik replied as he returned back to his human form. 'And yours it's Cloud Strife, so unfitting for a coward who ran away from his past and tries to stay alive.'

_I'm a coward, so what? You are going to kill me after I save your life back there?_ The blond challenged Genesis who glared at him. _And beside, neither you nor I could afford to lose the other, since only I can release your seal and only you can kill those monsters._

'That doesn't mean I have to associate myself with you,' Genesis said darkly as he eyed the weak human coldly.

_Yes, but will you risk your own pride to be beaten by another monster like this one?_ The young man pointed at the spot where the demon had died.

The Krusnik raised an eyebrow surprisingly before he said softly, 'Well, looks like I over-underestimate you. You sure are as unpredictable as a storm, for a coward.'

_I don't care if you continue to call me a coward. As long that we have an agreement of helping each other, I don't mind. I want to live, no I _have_ to live. I'll show this world that even if I no longer had my voice, my life is not worthless and I'll prove it by living. You have a reason to live too, am I right?_

Genesis chuckled in amusement before he looked at Cloud with a wide smirk as he answered, 'You are right. I do have a reason to continue my existence. Revenge. I want revenge on the people who turned me into what I was born to hunt down, the beings that I had despised since I had breathed the air of this world. Now, my body is torn between the power from the light and darkness. And I'll make sure that they'll be punished for this before I joined the Lord of the dead.'

_Then do we have an accord?_ Cloud asked telepathically as he extended his injured hand with the garnet stone dangling on the chain over his wrist.

'Fine. As long that you stay out of my way and I get my revenge, I shall lend you my strength.' Genesis said solemnly as he shook the hand of the blond, sealing the contract between them.

A small ember was lighted deep within the red blood stone, the fire of a new powerful will of two beings who could not understand each other and the light of their most precious wish. It is the beginning of their new life as it is the end of their old ones.

* * *

**I hope you like the chapter and tell me what you think about it! Reviews are greatly appreciated! Also, for those who had read "The Endless Cycle", I am now writing a Oneshot sequel for the New Year, so I hope you'll look forward to it!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters! Now enjoy the new story!**

* * *

A Door and Six missing Keys

'CLOUD! WAKE UP! WAKE UP GODDAMN IT! CLOUD!' the sleeping singer heard someone screaming as he felt being shaken violently. He covered his ears with his pillow to muffle the loud yelling. 'GAIA! CLOUD, HE IS GOING TO EXPLODE THE HOUSE IF YOU DON'T STOP HIM!'

_What? Explode?_ The blond groggily thought as he raised his head up to see the panic face of Zack, then everything that had happened last night hit him squarely in the face and he immediately jumped out of his bed, running with his old blue pajamas.

_Where is he?_ Cloud asked his friend mentally, but a loud explosion from the west wing answered his question. _Never mind..._

Both of them quickly made their way to the west side of the mansion, standing in middle of the corridor was the coatless half vampire and half Krusnik, Genesis, with his arms crossed on his chest and a grim expression over his delicate features, in front of him was a smoking midnight blue door with a strange round lock of some kind at the center.

_What in the Hell's name are you doing Genesis?_ The blond demanded telepathically to his pact partner as he ran his non-injured hand through his spiky yellow hair, carefully avoiding the part where his bandages were.

'And what do I look I'm doing?' came the Krusnik's stiffed reply as he continued to glare and study the somehow undamaged door.

_From the way I was being woken by Zack and the noises you are making. I can only say that you are trying to blow something up, which I think you didn't succeed, judging by how angry you are right now._ The voiceless singer responded as he looked at the source of the commotions. _And can I ask why are you trying to blow this door up?_

'And I thought you had paid a lot of attention to what our little... let's say... ghost had told us last night,' Genesis said as he went closer to study the odd silver mechanism. 'There are still two friends of mine imprisoned in the mansion.'

_Let me guess, one of your friends is behind this thin door._ Cloud concluded as he examined the device that reminded him a lot of the sundial in the garden, but instead of the twelve zodiac signs, it had six empty diamond shapes around the center of a thin clear crystal.

'Yes,' Genesis hissed angrily. 'I have used different spells on it, but this seal is more powerful than the one that was on my door and this device seemed to be the only thing that could break it.'

_Which is where the riddle that... umm... Mr. F gave us. I remember that he said something about the Seven Keys of a Fallen Angel._ The blond told his two companions as he ran his finger around the hollow space on one of the slots. _Well there are only six holes here, unless we count the middle one that is occupied; that's makes seven, but where are the other crystals? Think they are in the mansion?_

'No, if the crystals are the keys, than I can tell you that they aren't inside the mansion,' the Krusnik answered as he shook his head. 'The crystal here held a lot of energy, at first I think this is what powered the seal, but apparently there is more what we needed to open it.'

'So we need to find the six other crystals that might be anywhere in the world?' Zack finally asked after a moment of deep thinking.

_If we want to help another poor guy stuck in a coffin, then yes, Zack, I think we have to._ The mute man replied as he made his way back to the stairs. _I'll go make us some breakfasts. We can continue this conversation after we fill up our stomach!_

'That sounds like a plan!' The raven hair man shouted in joy as he practically bounced after the retired singer, leaving behind the thoughtful vampire.

The hybrid placed his hand over the deep blue colored door, feeling the presence behind the oak wood, as he whispered quietly, 'Don't worry, my friend. You'll be free soon. Very soon...'

Genesis removed his hand reluctantly from the door before he went after the two humans.

***

After taking a small light breakfast, which surprised Cloud and Zack when the half-vampire ate the same thing as they do, because they thought he only drinks blood, Genesis explained to them that even though he had the powers of an undead in him, his natural Krusnik power kept them at bait; therefore he had the same appetite as a normal human being. The trio sat around the table counting the clues they had so far and tried to piece them together.

'M. F had told us to look for seven keys that are made from the ash of a fallen angel, but instead of seven, it's six that we have to find,' Zack resumed shortly as he munched his milk chocolate tablet. 'But who is this fallen angel?'

'I checked through some of my books this morning and found this,' the redhead took out a green book, he opened the page where a red ribbon bookmarked it and pushed it towards on the table, the book was titled _Demonology_.

The page on the left side showed an evil looking angel, with ash like grey skin, hair as dark as the Grim Reaper's cloth, golden slit-eyes and dozen of glyphs was carved on his forehead. Around the picture was seven crystal jewels in different colors and at the bottom was a silver ribbon where is written "Lucifer" in gothic style.

'Well he certainly looks familiar,' the porcupine hair man muttered sarcastically, both pact partners glared at him and he quickly muttered a small apology. Then they proceeded to read the next page where it explains what each crystal represented.

_So we're looking for the crystals that represent the Seven Deadly Sins, huh?_ Cloud thought as he trailed his index on the drawing of the gemstones. _And the one on the door is the Stone of Pride._

_**It suits my friend greatly, because treasuring his pride was one of his goals in his life.**_ Genesis told the blond hair singer through their mind link.

_Then that leaves us with Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Sloth and Wrath. We now know _what_ we're looking for, but _where_ are we going to find them. I mean they could be at the end of the world!_ The voiceless singer exclaimed as his companions continued to stare at the words on the pages, as if staring at them long enough, a clue will be reveal to them.

After several minutes of silence, the Krusnik said tiredly, 'There might be a way to track them down.' Seeing that both humans are about to hammer him with questions, he held up his hand to stop whatever words that was going to come out from the mouth or mind. 'Each of these stones held an enormous amount of energy, so we could easily find them through the technique of dowsing and_ that_ is not my fort.'

'You are like a vampire or monster hunter thingy right?' asked Zack, earning a scornful look from Genesis, but he completely ignored it. 'I mean should you have the skill to find them with a crystal ball or something?'

'Vampires are my natural enemies since I was born into this world,' the Kusnik hissed at Zack dangerously. 'I could smell their goddamn bloody stench even if they were on the other side of the ocean. And because of that, I don't need to learn dowsing just to find a few idiotic undead.'

'That's a very good excuse for being... euh what was the word again? Ah yes, incompetent,' mumbled Zack as he threw the chocolate paper into the garbage can.

'Just what are you implying, you little sick-love puppy?' the Krusnik sneered as he stood up so quick that his chair clattered on the floor. The color of his hues turned from azure blue to crimson red, glaring angrily at the raven hair man who stood up and stared back challengingly, his face as red as a bomb that was about to explode in any given seconds. The one thing that Zack Fair hated about it was people calling him a puppy. It is only reserved for friends and family!

Both mortal and immortal was readied to jump on each other's throat, if the mute blond didn't come in between them to stop this childish argument._ Stop it already you two! If we want to solve this problem, we have to think together, not kill each other!_

Genesis growled under his breath before he left the kitchen without another word, then Cloud turned to his childhood friend and asked mentally. _What's wrong with you this morning Zack? You aren't acting very friendly here! And most of the time you would at least try to make peace with your enemies!_

The raven hair man muttered something unintelligible before he took his leave too. The voiceless man sighed heavily before he buried his face in his hands as he pounded on the strange attitudes of his friend, but nothing came to his mind and Zack was most definitely not a woman with her monthly visit friend, so he decided to go out and have some fresh air in the village.

After changing into more suitable clothes to go out with, the blond took the car and made his way to the nearest civilization, fuming angrily along the way.

***

_What is wrong with everybody this morning?!_ Cloud wanted to scream when he arrived at the small peaceful village and parked Zack's car, before he went pacing around the fountain, trying to blow off some steams while shouting in his mind.

The young man shivered slightly as he pulled up the collar of his dark green sweater when a cold chilling wind blew around him and put his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans, slapping himself mentally for forgetting to bring a windbreaker with him.

'Ho ho hoo! Looks like someone need a little place to warm up!' a cheerful voice said behind him. 'Sorry to startle you Mr. Strife. Ho ho hoo. Are you alright?'

_I'm fine..._ The young man immediately stopped his sentence, because it will be hard to explain how he was able to talk to the old man in telepathy. So he just nodded his head and scratched his neck nervously, hoping that Bugenhagen didn't hear anything.

'Oh my, where did you get all those injuries in just one night?' the old shopkeeper asked surprisingly when he saw the bandages and stitches over the young man's hands and face, then he took his hand and gently lead him to his small herbal shop. 'Never mind that, I'll have the exact things you need to patch you up for good! Ho ho hoo!'

Glad that the elder didn't notice anything else than his wounds was a relief for Cloud as he followed the old man. Actually, he was quite happy to be back into the shop filled with different aromas, it made him felt safer and more familiar with things than at the mansion. The sweet scent of lavenders calmed his agitated mind and helped him think clearer than before.

_You just gotta love Mother Nature's gifts sometimes._ The blond hair man whispered to himself silently in the back of his mind while Bugenhagen was picking up dried leaves from the tiny drawers like the last time.

'So what's brings you back to town so soon Cloud?' the old shop keeper asked kindly as he put the plants into small pouches and then bent down to take some large bottles, each filled with different shades amber-colored oily liquid.

The mute man shoved his hands into his pocket to take out his pen and notebook, only to find nothing. Once again he cursed himself as he looked around to see if there are some papers and a pencil so he could communicate with the shop's owner.

'Here you go,' Bugenhagen said with a wide smile as he pulled some blank papers and a pen out of no where to the blond before he continued to pour some of the liquid into smaller containers.

**It's my friend, Zack, and a stranger who I had found unconscious at our doorstep.** Cloud wrote down after rethinking his sentence of "I find a vampire sealed in an underground tomb and my friend isn't very happy with it". **The man was injured and I helped him out last night. Then Zack was edgy this morning and both of them are at each other's throat. I can't take the pressure and left the mansion.**

The blond could feel the anger rising in his lungs again and could taste the lava of his rage on his tongue. Questions of his childhood friend's odd behavior towards the Krusnik and why he seemed mad at him when he scowled at them came to pound on his mind. Is it a bad thing to help someone who had pretty much indirectly save your life?

'Hum... Well, does it bother you because your friend is acting a little _edgy_ or because there is a stranger in your mansion?' asked the old man as he packed up the herbs and oils he had gathered.

Genesis was not really on the OK list at first when he had intentionally looked into his mind and all, but judging by the way the hybrid acted towards people like he is a royal-blood prince, he doubted that the vow he had made would be broken so easily, so the auburn hair man won't be a threat to them. As for Zack, he really was just like when they were younger, full of energy and spirit, but the man had never really been... well... _mean_ to others. His friend always forgave others for their mistakes and gave them a second chance.

**A bit of both, but more on my friend. **Cloud scribbled down the last part hesitantly, feeling like he had just stabbed his friend in the back. Sometimes, he felt like the Gods are playing with him, always making the simplest matter more complex than it was suppose to be.

'Ho ho hoo, Cloud, all I could tell you to do is to try to talk to both of them again,' Bugenhagen suggested as he handed the bag filled with small pouches and bottles. 'They might not listen, but I am sure your words would reach them if you have the will to try.'

The young man mouthed a small thank to the man as he checked the items that was gathered before him and pulled out a few hundred gil from his wallet, while the man said, 'Most of these herbs could heal minor to heavy injuries, the oils can mostly used as disinfectants or sedative. I think you'll definitely need them if you get that many wounds in one night. May the stars bring you the Goddess of Luck and kept you save. Ho ho hoo!'

_Yeah, luck is definitely what I need the most if I ever want a peaceful life with those two together..._ Cloud silently mused as he nodded his head in appreciation, grateful that this elder could so easily lifted the tensions over his shoulders by just talking with him, giving him advices and offering him some gifts that had so far proven to be very useful. Then he left the shopkeeper and headed back towards the mansion.

***

When the blond hair man came back to his home, he found his friend lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling, some newspapers and bear cans on the coffee table. Cloud placed the item he had brought silently in the kitchen before he went to sit on the crouch opposite of the one Zack had occupied.

His action immediately caught the raven hair man's attention, but before the other had the time to say something, Cloud said mentally. _Look Zack. I know you aren't happy to have Genesis around, because he is more interested in helping his friend out of their own hell-hole than considering what we think or feel. I know he is annoying, but could you please try to get along._

_I'm not trying to force you to be friendly with him, but can you at least have a certain level of peaceful term with Genesis?_ Cloud pleaded almost desperately, because the frown on Zack's face seemed to grow bigger. _It's just that I want to end this contract as fast as possible like you do, so we could all go our own separate ways. To accomplish that, _I_ need your help..._

Zack sighed deeply as he sat up and ran his hand through his black locks tiredly before he beamed at the younger man and told him, 'Sorry if I'm grumpy this morning. It's just that I felt like everything that had happened was because of me. After all, if I had picked another house instead of this one, maybe you won't... have to deal with this... strange... life...'

Blinking his eyes confusingly at the black hair man before a large grin drew its way on his face. _Thank you Zack! I knew I could count on you!_

'Hey! You know me. I'm the best man- SHIT!' Zack cursed when he accidentally tripped over one of the half full beer bottle on the small table.

_The best man making a mess for me to clean up._ Cloud finished the sentence with an unhappy snort as he helped picking up the news papers aren't covered with the alcohol substance. _I wonder if I'll ever live to see the day that we gather all the Seven Sins Crystals..._

Suddenly the voiceless singer felt a small tingling sensation through his hand, like being tickled by a feather, and a soft red light pulsed dimly on his palm. He turned over his hand to see the winged glyph glowing like the fire of a small candle. _What in the name-_ Before his mind could utter another word, the news papers in his hands flew away like birds until only one article with the title was "**BIGGEST DISCOVERY OF THE CENTURY"**, remains in his hands.

The two humans shared a confused look before the older of the two read the article out loud, 'After years of excavation in the ruins of the temple of Beelzebub, Dr. Isaac Climacus had discovered the chalice of that the worshippers of Beelzebub used to offer the blood of thousands of innocents to the demon. The artifact had remained intact and shines in all its glory even after five decades. It will be ship to the City Junon for an exposition of their find before it will be taken back to Midgar's Historic Museum for preservation.'

'Legend said that this item held the power to fulfill one's desire by filling it with the blood of innocents and drinks it; then, the demon lord Beelzebub will appear and grant the person his wish. According to certain manuscripts found next to the artifact, the followers of the Lord of Flies had slaughtered many innocent people to satisfy the thirst of their Lord, but the demon never appeared before them to grant their wishes.'

Next to the text was the image of a golden chalice decorated with Cuniform script around the top and bottom, round rubies around the center, there is only one that is in diamond shape and its shade was brighter than the other ones.

'Think this is one of the stones we're looking for?' Zack asked, cocking an eyebrow up.

The mute man shrugged before he answered telepathically. _I'm not sure if it is or it isn't, but going to Junon and take a good look at it won't harm us. After all, this is our only lead for now. Let's start packing, alright?_

'No problem, just go get his Royal Highness' ass down here,' the raven hair man replied half serious and half sarcastic.

_Zack..._ Cloud said in a warning tone in his mind and his friend put his hand up in a surrendering gesture before he left the living room. The blond quickly made his way to the Krusnik's chamber, only to find the said person standing next to his room in the corridor and holding a brown leather book.

Their eyes locked onto each other, the half vampire regarded him in calculating stare for a moment, then he threw the book he was holding in his hand, which Cloud caught it reflexively, and said, 'Learn as much defensive spells as you can from the book before we make it to Junon, because I can't always look after you in a battle.'

_Do you have to look into my mind before you speak?_ The blond asked, angry that the auburn hair man had once again looked at his thoughts without permission.

'I did not look _into _your mind. I have simply read the surface of your thoughts, the shell of your mind,' answered Genesis truthfully as he walked back to his room. 'Not that I could decide what I want to see, it was your own soul that had showed me what you are thinking. Learn how to defend it if you don't want others to discover your weaknesses, but I must admit that I am quite impressed by how fast you notice and find things so easily, you are quite a natural dowser.'

_Euh... Thank you?_ Cloud replied uncertainly, not knowing if he should feel more insulted than happy by the comment of the Krusnik, as Genesis disappeared behind the crimson door. Somehow, the voiceless singer wished that he knew more about Genesis than having to guess what the man was thinking, because he knew that he needed to understand him in order to be able to accomplish this quest.

_Why do I care so much about him?_ Cloud asked out loud in his mind before he went into his room.

* * *

**I got so much works and tests going on in my life that I could barely continued my stories! I am really extremely sorry for the long wait! I'll try to finish the chapter sooner! And please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. Sorry for the wait everyone!**

* * *

Double or Nothing!

Junon was one of the largest cities on Gaia and its technologies and populations were second to Midgar. Eighty years ago, Junon was a temporary military seashore base where they tested the newly developed weapons and trained the new recruits before the explosion of the Sister Ray Canon. After that incident, people decided to turn it into a city that held all the most important festivals in the history. Still its warfare history could not be forgotten very easy, because pieces of the old giant canon still stood, but it was more of a historic site for tourist to visit than the remaining a powerful weapon used for battle.

'Man! It had been a whole year since my last sending to Junon!' Zack exclaimed as he looked at the light blue waves of the ocean from their table outside a small cafe. Cloud smiled slightly at the beautiful sight through his thick sunglass, not wanting people to notice who he was and ask him for an autograph or picture. Genesis was simply sipping his warm red tea like a nobleman that had attracted far more unwanted attention from the passing girls than the voiceless singer did.

The sapphire eyes turned their attention back to the papers they got from the tourist information center in the town's square. According to what their informant had told them, the artifact will not be in exposition until next week for the public and only the rich politicians and scientists who were invited to attend the Ancient Night Gallery of the end of the day could see the golden chalice.

So, unless they would have decided to be patient and spent the whole week at Junon to wait for the exposition, they could attempt the impossible, which is to silently slip into a party filled with high-tech securities just to know if the chalice had the stone they are looking for. Genesis had pretty much insisted to take the second choice, saying that he _can_ bring them inside without making others suspicious about their presences.

Still Cloud felt uneasy, even if Genesis could accomplish the impossible, there is a nagging feeling in his mind that something was wrong and they had missed something in this plan of theirs, but it's probably the fact they are going in like disguised burglars, that was stressing him out. After all, he had never gone to a party uninvited and most of the time he was forced to attend it, never on his own accord.

'You don't need to worry too much Cloud. Relax!' Zack said cheerfully as he clapped his back. 'And enjoy the view!'

_I'm not very enthusiastic at the idea of walking straight into the mouth of the wolf._ The blond replied telepathically to his friend with a serious face.

'Well, you could wait outside while we go inside, coward,' said Genesis sternly. 'I don't have to time deal with you and your little fears.'

_You know I never really mind being called a coward before, but now I think you are really annoying. _Cloud spat those words mentally as he drank his whole cup of coffee in one shot.

'Then stop being afraid of every small thing we are going to do, you won't survive long before we'll be able to save my friends,' the immortal being said calmly as he looked deep into the blue eyes of the voiceless singer. 'At least you are working on forming a shield over your mind.'

Cloud rolled his eyes tiredly, because he found that the Krusnik had sometimes some strange bi-polar issues. He threw you cruel insults at the beginning and then gave you a small praise. Gaia, this man is as complicated as intellectual toys that some genius played with when his mind was completely blanked. Still he is glad that he had succeeded in blocking out the man's intrusion in his mind.

During the whole journey to from the small village to this city, he had been reading and practicing small protection spells of the five elements and was doing some meditations to protect his thoughts from Genesis, he is still weak of course, but compare to before he learned any of this, he was pretty well armed this time.

_So we're just going to pretend that we are some of the guests and waltz inside? I thought we should be more discreet than that._ The blond hair man pointed out.

'We simply need to look as if we belong with the guests, Cloud. And I doubt I could waltz inside without tripping on someone's foot,' Zack joked with a goofy grin on him, that made the younger man chuckled lightly in his mind.

It amazed Cloud sometimes how his friend could throw all his troubled thoughts out of the window that easily. _You don't dance too bad Zack when you are more focus on what you are doing._

'Heh heh, you are too kind Spiky,' Zack replied embarrassingly as he scratched the back of his neck.

'What a puppy,' Genesis muttered quietly, but it didn't go unheard by the black spiky hair man whose ears were very sensitive with the word "puppy" and glared at him wholeheartedly.

_Not again..._ The mute man thought, shaking his head weakly as his two companions started their whole I-am-not-a-puppy argument. He slowly got up and left them with their conversation.

Cloud walked as fast as he could to get out of earshot of his friends' heated argument, he was really tired to be the middle man of this affair and Zack should learn to accept the fact that he did acted like a little doggy once in a while.

_Oh well, reality is a bitch anyway._ The blond thought sadly as he turned at a small corner and accidentally bumped into someone, causing the person to drop the grocery bag he was holding in his arms. Green, red, two-colored apples fell out of the bag to the ground.

'Sorry I didn't see you,' the man apologized as he picked the grocery bag. Cloud shook his head lightly and bent down to help the stranger in picking up some of the fruits. The retired singer quickly put the apples into the bag when they stood up. It was then that the blond took notice of the man's appearances. He had slick shoulder-length blond hair and wore some thin glasses, his white-lined black business suits seemed to come out from the 1970s and a black fedora. 'Thank you. Can I know the name of the person who had helped me?'

Cloud cursed in a low tone inside his mind when he didn't feel his notepad in his pocket, he glanced around trying to find something that he could use to write something, but nothing was useful. _I should have learned some sign languages._

'Cat got your tongue, little one?' the blond hair stranger asked jokingly and chuckled slightly when Cloud's face turned red in anger and embarrassment, then he looked up and stared at the old clock attached to the bridge.

'Oh my, look at the time. I'm late for my small meeting. I'll see another time, little one,' the gentleman exclaimed before he walked away hastily.

The blond wanted to tell the man to stop so he could tell him his name, since he was mute and he doubted the nameless man would stop, seeing he was in quite a hurry. He shrugged his shoulders before he turned back to the direction he was heading, but stopped when he had stepped on something, he looked down to see some kind of keychain made of a strange wooden charm that had the shape of a plant.

The young man carefully picked it up and examined it in every angle before he looked back at the street where the stranger had disappeared. _This must be his. I hope I'll find him before we leave._ Cloud thought before he put the charm into his pocket.

***

The mute man was shuffling nervously as he looked down at the camera in his hands and pushed up his fake glasses over the bridge of his nose, some of his gravity-defying yellow hair was pulled back in a small ponytail. He still couldn't believe this, the fact that they were really going to walk in as if they were invisible!

The plan was quite plain simple. They would get into the Ancient Night Gallery like all the other journalists, take a close look on the chalice, if it's not what they are looking for, they'll just leave without another word, if it is... well, they would stay behind, hide inside an empty closet and wait until there were only the night guards to deal with.

_God definitely likes to give me complicated works._ Cloud complained in his mind as he and Genesis were slowly advancing towards the entrance where two security guards were checking people's invitation cards and I. Ds.

_**Gods always knows the best way to torture one's soul. It's been like that for many centuries.**_ Genesis' thought sneered into his mind. The retired singer stole a glance over his shoulder at the Krusnik who was behind him looking around nonchalantly. It amazed and scared Cloud at how the man could perfectly mask his emotions.

The fake journalist decided that he should concentrate on what he needed to do now than being bother by the secrecy of the hybrid as the stern-looking man in a black suit asked him, 'Can I please have your invitation card and I. D sir?'

Genesis placed his hand over the mute human's shoulder as he faced the security with a charming smile and replied, 'Sorry we had forgotten to bring our invitation card, but our names are on the list, so perhaps you could let us go in for now.'

The man in black was about to retort, Cloud saw the eyes of the auburn hair man suddenly changed to red briefly, then the security shook his head lightly like trying to get rid of pestering fly and said, 'Alright, you two can go in.'

'What...? Wait a minute, we can't just...' his partner was going to stop them, but he froze when his eyes met the red ones of the Krusnik. 'We welcome both of you to the Ancient Night Gallery.'

'Thank you gentlemen,' Genesis said happily as he gently tugged the dumbfounded blond into the large entrance hall.

_What did you do to those two men?_ Cloud asked as he looked up at the taller man.

_**Don't worry. I have simply put some part of their mind asleep, think of it like being hypnotized. They wouldn't remember anything that had happened. After all, that is an ability that many vampires rely on when they want an easy prey to feed on.**_ The Krusnik explained reassuringly, with some disgust when he mentioned the word "vampire".

_I'll go... look around... and take pictures..._ The young man told his pact partner through their mind-link and walked away as fast as he could without bumping into the other guests.

Being close the half vampire gave him many problems, like he could feel the anger stirring within the auburn hair man and if it's worse, those feelings melted with his. Only when he was at a certain distance that he could feel the connection between them seemed to lighten. _Man! I need some drinks._

'Need a drink sir?'

_ZACK! _Cloud shouted in the mind of raven hair man who flinched slightly at the loud mental cry while keeping the silver tray filled with glasses of champagne on his hand.

'Whoa, watch it Cloud,' the spiky hair man whispered as he rubbed his ear as if the voiceless singer had indeed yelled into his ear than into his mind. 'We are undercover you know.'

_How did you get these clothes?_ The blond asked mentally as he studied the attire of his friend that was similar to ones of the servant around the ballroom had, only a little messier. _You didn't knock someone out cold to get this uniform, right?_

'Of course not, besides I am a gentleman and a ladies' man,' Zack replied cheekily.

At first, the younger man thought Zack was going with them disguised as a journalist too, but when they went in line, the raven hair man announced to him that he'll take another way in, but he never expected that his "way-in" was pretending to be one of the servants who served small snacks and drinks. He pictured the older man to come in just like how Arnold Schwarzenegger did in the movie "True Lies", since Zack always loved pretending to be some kind of handsome hero when they were younger.

_You still have a long way to go to be a gentleman Zack and tuck your shirt in your pants._ Cloud told the raven hair man as he walked away with a smirk as his friend quickly did as he was told, not wanting to be embarrassed in front of some cute ladies. Zack, the puppy, with suits, it will take centuries before they understood each other much like him and Genesis ironically.

The disguised journalist took some pictures around him, so that it won't raise any kind of suspicion on him, and then he spotted a familiar head with a black fedora in the middle the sea of people.

_Is that...?_ The young man was about to make his way towards the stranger he had met during the afternoon, when suddenly the light dimmed and silence fell in the large ballroom. He looked up to see all the spotlights concentrated on a man in his late forties who stepped up on the stadium where a pedestal was covered by red velvet silk. _That must where the chalice we're looking for is._

'Ladies and gentlemen, I, Professor Isaac Climacus, welcome all of you to the Night Gallery and now might I have the honor to present you the great found I had made. I present to you,' the man in the black tuxedo put his hand on the cover, 'the golden chalice of Beelzebub!'

Flashlights of cameras immediately poured their light on the golden antique on the stage, the gold glimmered under the endless sea of light and rubies incrusted on it were reflecting their glow on the people who were the closest to them.

_Huh? Why isn't the stone glowing?_ Cloud thought when he noticed the gem that he spotted on the newspaper was blackening as if the light that surrounded was taking its glow away.

A sudden uneasiness built its way in the young man's heart as a dark shadow fell over the crowd. A black hazy mist was forming under their feet, but no one around him seemed to realize this. Cloud looked around him in panic, searching for his friends who were no where to be seen, because the darkness that was consuming the ballroom was growing too fast for his liking. He felt like an animal being hunted by a hunter in the dark, vulnerable and defenseless.

_What should I do? What should I do?_ The blond questioned himself as the air thicken, then he remembered a simple spell of a light barrier in the book that Genesis had given to him, he quickly took a deep breath to calm himself before he imagined a round circle under his feet and chanted the incantations.

_By the dragons light,_

_On this September night,_

_I call to thee to give me your might,_

_By the power of three,_

_I conjure thee,_

_To protect all that,_

_Surround me,_

_So mote it be,_

_So mote it be!_

As soon as the caster finished casting his spell, a loud shriek was sounded in the air as some of the guests were suddenly engulfed the dark haze under their feet, many people tried to get away, but they were joining quickly the ones who caught by the darkness. An orange halo, naked to others' human eyes, enveloped the young man like a second skin and its light kept the black mist from touching him as he scrambled away from the panic crowd who was heading towards the only exit of room.

_ZACK! ZACK! GENESIS! GENESIS!_ Cloud shouted telepathically, his thoughts were like a giant wave that crashed onto the guests who were more worry to not get out of here alive and too scared than took noticed of the mental psych wave, as he fought his way in between the remaining journalists to the stage.

While he continued his search, the golden chalice was filling up with fresh red blood and soon the whole content dripped onto the floor, a bloody summoning circle was drawn on the marble floor that was soon turned into a black vortex.

A black armored human hand slowly emerged from the blackness, like a zombie in the horror movie the being dragged itself out of the underworld into the living. Cloud, seeing the terrible entity, stopped his shouts and stared at the humanoid being in fear. His instincts were practically screaming at him to run away, but he found that his feet were glued to the floor and he couldn't find the strength to even move a muscle.

The creature would have looked like a normal human in a black insect-like armor suit if it weren't for those inhuman green eyes, an orange gem on its forehead, strange navy blue skin and black straight antennas-or-horns-looking things that replaced its ears. It took a sniff in the air and said in a low growling voice, '**Ah, the world of the living. It's been too long since I had left this earth. Hmm, human...**'

The demonic being pointed at Cloud who looked around him to see if it was pointing at someone else behind him, but he was the only person left in the room. _That can't be good._

'**You have set me free and I am grateful for that. Now let me grant you... a quick death,**' the monster said before he snapped his fingers and a large fireball whirled towards the blond who jumped away just in time, but the shield he had made around his body was shattered into pieces.

_I need to cast another spell, and a water one. _Cloud quickly backed away a few feet to distance himself from the demon and to have enough space to cast another shield spell before another fireball was conjured up.

_God who rules the Seven Seas,_

_I summon thee power to my aid._

_Water shall become my shield._

_Thunder shall become my sword._

_Wind shall become my healer._

A giant bubble was formed around him just in time to rebound the fire attack back to where it came from. The attack hit the monster squarely in the face, but the flame didn't make a scorch on the skin. The dark being snarled angrily before he dashed towards the caster's barrier which broke upon impact, the force was so powerful that it had sent Cloud flying to the wall before hitting the hard floor.

The young caster could hear nothing, but an irritable ring in his ears, not even the furious uproar from the monster, as he struggled to get up with one arm because his other was broken when he was slammed on the wall.

_That hurts like shit!_ The blond thought as he cradled his broken arm, his back pressed against the wall as a support. _I knew I should have taken a look at the healing chapters too!_

Before he could get up, the monster caught his neck in a tight grip and slammed him against the wall. Cloud would have sworn he had heard a small crack behind his head as the pressure over his throat tightened, slowly chocking him to death, but he kept struggling to get himself free from the strong grip.

_The... NECKLACE!_ Cloud exclaimed in his mind as he suddenly remembered he held the item that can break the seal over Genesis' powers was wrapped around the wrist of his broken arm. His vision was slowly jumping in and out of focus as he squeezed his hand hard around the tiny red stone until the accessory dug through his skin and blood started to mix with the color of the jewel.

The winged glyph was immediately traced upon his palm and the bright light of the seal being broken blinded the monster for a second, loosening the hold it got over his sore throat and giving him the chance to throw the pouch filled with dried rice at the monster's face.

The content inside the leather bag spilled over the blue skin, it reacted almost like a powerful acid, because the demon immediately let go of him, stepping away as it clawed its face to get rid of the white rice before whatever magic it held eat anymore of its flesh.

The young man dropped to the floor coughing soundlessly as the light over his hand glowed stronger than before, making the shadow beneath him looked like a giant hole that connects to the abyss. Something shot out of the darkness and landed next to him.

_Well you took sometimes to come to the rescue._ Cloud said sarcastically to his pact partner who folded its wing behind his back and his sword readied.

'It's not like it was easy to fight my way back to the surface without a weapon in hand,' replied Genesis as he watched with boredom the trashing armored being before turning his gaze to his injured partner. 'Besides, I doubt you need my help if you could get it this agitated.'

The blond silently grumbled some curses in the back of his mind as he got up. _Do you have a plan how to kill it?_

'No, I intend to decapitate it more than kill it,' came the casual reply from the Krusnik, it was almost as if he was talking about the weather! He could be compared to Freddy in the movie, _Nightmare at Elm's Street_, if not, then worse.

'**YOU FILTHY HUMAN!**' both pact partners looked back at the beast whose face seemed half melted, but the wounds were healing. Its fiery glowing eyes told them that it was out for blood. '**I, BEELZEBUB, WILL RIP YOUR SOUL INTO SHREDS!**'

Then the monstrosity started to morph into something that even the word _ugly_ would be an understatement. The black armor had _swallowed_ the humanoid-looking being and grew into a giant mosquito insect monster. It had big round red eyes that reflected their face in different forms with the gem in between them, eight sword-like wings, six claws furry arms and the buzzing sound it made was worse than the ringing tone in the ears of someone who stood too close to a Hi-fi. Which was _annoying_, with a capital A.

'Hump, demons. Always jump into their enemies like they are their meal instead of thinking,' Genesis said in a mocking tone, angering the monster further.

The furious giant mosquito flew into the air and threw three green blobs at them. Genesis quickly grabbed the injured man by the waist and jumped into the air to escape the attack, both of them landed on the upper platform of the museum. Even though they were about thirty meters above the floor, the two pact partners could see the place where the blobs had hit are melting the marble floor away as if it was snow.

_Great! Now we have an angry big fat fly that can cough out giant blob of green colored acid in our hands!_ Cloud yelled mentally as he did his best to keep himself from falling over the narrow platform where they landed. _Why can't you land us where I could at least hold onto something?!_

The Krusnik ignored him and told him to wait here and stay out of sight before he dashed towards the monstrosity below them. The hybrid swung with all his strength, making him spinning like the blade of a helicopter. His attack ripped several gashed on the monster, but the skin of the black mass was thicker than it looked, so the sword had only left scratches on it.

Seeing the fruitless result of his attack, Genesis decided to switch his tactic and used his power over the element of fire to chain the beast down just like last time he did it, but the giant bug simply shrugged off the flame and knocked the winged swordsman out of the air.

Cloud bit his lower lip as he watched the battle between the two creatures of darkness. He couldn't do anything with his current state and even if he did had some strength left, he doubted he could do anything to help Genesis who was pretty much throwing every powerful fire spell he had ever learned before he ended inside a coffin, but nothing seemed to have an effect on the monster!

_That's strange... the rice I had threw at it had almost burned its skin off, but Genesis' fires didn't do a thing on it. _The blond thought as he studied the attacks and the reaction of Beelzebub, trying to find some kind of weakness. _And so far, it did nothing, but annoying it. But why is that? That attack could have turned it to ashes!_

As Cloud pounded on the unusual immunity of Beelzebub against fire, he didn't notice one of the Krusnik's fireballs was backfired and headed towards him, until it hits the stone platform where he was kneeling on.

_SHIT!_ Cloud yelled out mentally as the stone beneath him cracked and crumbled. He quickly tried to grab something to keep from falling, but with one arm broken, it was totally impossible to safe his skin and he fell through the air, though before he had the time to even blink, he was caught by the Krusnik.

_**It's rather impossible for you to stay out of sight isn't it?**_ Cloud heard Genesis' voice asked in his mind coldly.

_Yeah right, it's like my fault that it just loves to target me!_ The young man retorted back angrily, not caring if they were hovering fifteen feet in the air or the possibility that his partner would decided to drop him because he was being extremely annoying.

Genesis was about to retort back, but he was cut off by a large acid blob thrown towards them. He evaded the incoming projectile only to have three more coming and with the extra weight, he couldn't fly as fast as he was a few minutes ago, so when he tried to dodge them all, his black wing was splashed by the liquid acid that ate off part of the feather and skin. The Krusnik hissed angrily as he tried to maintain his balance in the air, while keeping his hold on Cloud tightly. Beelzebub, seeing his chance to finish them off, sent three more green blobs at them.

Cloud held out his hand and hastily cried out a small protection spell in his mind, seeing that they could not possibly dodge the attack. Yet, instead of a round energy shield appeared before them, an aurora-like veil shone before both of them and the acid was absorbed by it.

_Did I just..._ Cloud looked at his hand disbelievingly and looked back at Genesis who wore the same surprised look as he did.

Then the Krusnik's eyes narrowed at the veil, he looked back at him and asked, 'Are you holding anything that is like a plant?'

The blond was about to say no, but then he remembered the keychain he had put in his pocket and quickly took it out, only to find it glowing a faint green hue. Cloud didn't know what the hell was going on, but he was certain that the hybrid knew something he didn't. The question was what he was hiding. Cloud was pulled out of his thoughts by the loud roars of the gigantic bug.

'You better make sure you don't drop it,' Genesis warned him before they flew towards the monster.

_Are you crazy?!_ Cloud literally screeched in his mind as he tightened his grip over the man's waist as the veil caught every single acidic attack thrown to them like a glass window. The blond closed his eyes as Genesis took them closer and closer the monstrosity.

Cloud didn't know why he was suddenly so afraid, when he had the car accident, he didn't felt this scared. Now he really just wished his mother was still alive and that she could tell him that everything would be alright like she always did whenever he was scared of something. _Mother..._

_**It's going to be alright.**_ A voice said gently, smoothing his fears.

When he reopened his eyes, his vision was blinded by a bright flash and all he could hear was a loud roar in agony. Then the light faded and he could see the monster they were fighting was melting into some kind of green slim which was slowly sliding towards the closing hole of the ground.

The ground resealed itself, not leaving the slightest mark behind, and all the people who were swallowed by the darkness were lying on the floor unconscious. The whole chalice was turned into dust, but the red blood jewel lay innocently on top of the golden pile of dust.

Genesis returned back to his human form when he landed both of them on the floor, while Cloud quickly went to see his unconscious childhood friend, he made his way to the bright stone and picked it up. The stone glowed slightly on his palm before it went dead again. _**One down and five more to go.**_

The blond dropped to his knees as he used his uninjured hand to shake Zack's shoulder as he called the man's name in his mind, hoping that he could get some kind of response. After a few shakes, he finally got a small grunt and the gentle blue eyes revealed themselves behind the eyelids.

'Ow... Cloud...' Zack hissed painfully as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. 'Did you see which bastard had knocked me out cold was? It hurts like Hell!'

_If you can cursed that loudly, I doubt it hurts as much as I did and the party is pretty much over._ Cloud scowled his friend with a relieved smile, but it was quickly faded when he caught the noise of a distant siren, while Zack shook his head a few times to get rid of the dizziness.

'Uh-oh. We got to bail Cloud!' Zack exclaimed as he went to grab the blond by the arm and took him up in bridal style.

_ZACK! MY LEGS ARE FINE!_ Cloud yelled indignantly in his friend's mind as Genesis and they made a quick dash towards the emergency exit. Unnoticed to them was that the whole battle and their escape was being watched by someone hiding in the shadow.

'Interesting, you are indeed a very interesting being, Cloud Silvus Strife,' the silent spectator whispered to the wind as he pushed his glassed up from the bridge of his nose before he vanished into the night.

***

'MAN! WHY IS IT ME WHO HAVE TO HANDLE ALL THE BAGS?!' Zack growled frustratingly as he threw yet another bag into the back of the van. 'AND WHY CAN'T WE STAY IN THE HOTEL FOR ANOTHER NIGHT?!'

'To answer your question, Fair,' the auburn hair Krusnik said calmly as he turned the pages of his book. 'The coward had a broken arm, so he can't possibly help you with our entire luggage.'

'BUT YOU AREN'T INJURED! YOU GODDAMN LAZY JERK!' the porcupine head snapped back angrily as he pointed an accusing finger towards the hybrid, who was sitting on a bench outside the hotel they were staying, while holding another heavy-looking bag in his hand.

'Wrong. I was injured in our last battle and I need to save my strength to recover more quickly, so stop your whining puppy or we'll never get back to Eir until midnight,' Genesis said smoothly.

Zack fumed madly and, not coming out with an outsmart reply for the half-vampire, he simply stomped the ground like an immature kid before he continued to toss their stuffs back into the trunk.

Cloud, seeing their bickering from the entrance hall, shook his head tiredly. His injured arm was bandaged and he thanked the elder of the village for the herbs and oils he had given them or he would have to deal with the pain all the way back to the mansion. He quietly made his way next to Genesis.

_Thank you._ He whispered in his partner's mind silently, in case Zack could hear his mental thoughts.

_**For what?**_ Genesis replied without looking up from his lecture.

_For comforting me when I was scared back then._ Cloud replied truthfully, not really care if he would be calling a weakling or a coward by Genesis because he had admitted that he was afraid, back there.

_**Not only are you a coward, but you also have hearing problems. I really pity you.**_ Genesis sneered in a venomous tone, but it didn't affect Cloud as it usually did. _**Your welfare had nothing to do with me, since as long that you are alive, I can use my power. Beside, once my friends are freed, you and puppy are going to leave.**_

For some reasons that Cloud didn't really know, he smiled, or rather smirked, at the remark as he said mentally. _You know you always act so egoistic and always make the two of us think that you are the worst guy in the whole world, but you can't really hide the other half of you, can you?_

The Krusnik finally tore his gaze from his book and stared into the blue eyes of his pact partner coldly, waiting for him to continue which Cloud did. _True, you are a vampire and a Krusnik, but deep down, you had a human soul just like anybody does. Deep down, you are kind enough to care for someone else. I don't know what had happened to you or what horrible experiments you went through until you ended up in the coffin, but it didn't change your soul completely. You could pretend be an egoistic bastard all you want, but it won't change my opinion about you having a kind soul and heart._

Cloud grinned almost sheepishly as he went to offer his share of help to Zack who immediately doubled his efforts to toss the rest of the luggage into their van.

Genesis stared at Cloud with an expressionless face for a moment before he placed his hand over the place where his heart was, pondering on what the boy just said. _**A kind soul and heart, huh? A monster doesn't have any of those...**_

**_

* * *

_**

**ALRIGHT! ANOTHER CHAPTER COMPLETE! School was pratically killing, but I survive to see another day! I hope you guys like this new chapter! Also, if anyone had some kind of suggestions to make for this story, I most definitely welcome them and would consider adding them in the future chapter. Thank you for the reviews, they help me greatly to continue my writings!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. **

* * *

Strangers in Town

Cloud almost cried out in joy in his mind when he saw the familiar stone towers of their home. The whole way back, from Junon to the outskirt of the village Eir was _extremely_ horrible, because it seemed like Zack and Genesis were both fated to be at each other's throat for eternity. The two men would start fighting without a particular reason and would argue in the most irritable way. So the whole trip was literally hellish. He could barely take a small nap!

When the van pulled to a stop, he was the first one to jump out of the car with a big wide smile. _Home at last! _Cloud thought as he made a quick dash towards the entrance of the mansion, but he stopped when he saw yellow bands that were used to secure crime scene taped on the door and the windows.

'What's the meaning of this?' Genesis questioned as he eyed in disgust the yellow bands around the mansion.

The pact partners were quickly joined by Zack who had left their baggage in the van to see what had happened to their home and yelled, 'What the hell? Since when did the mansion became a crime scene?'

'Since the last three days,' someone said behind them. The trio turned around to see to a blond hair man in his early thirties standing in the middle of the rocky road, he wore a grey business suit and trench coat.

'And you are?' Zack asked, rising an eyebrow.

'I'm Cid Highwind, but it's Detective Highwind to you guys,' the man replied before he pulled out a cigar from his coat and light it. 'I take it that the three of you are the ones who live in this mansion?'

Cloud felt tempted to say "yes" sarcastically, but he reminded himself that he was mute and his telepathy power must remind a secret, so he held back and just let his two friends do the talking.

'Yeah! So what?' Zack asked boldly.

'Where had they three of you been?' the detective questioned, ignoring Zack's question. The raven hair man stared at the stranger before them incredulously, while the hybrid looked like he was trying to decide whether he should or shouldn't kill the detective for making his mansion looked like a closed off haunted house.

Cloud, seeing that his friends were more bothered by the police's rudeness than the fact they might be under suspicion of a homicide, took out his notepad and quickly scribbled down an answer. **We were at Junon sightseeing for a whole week.**

'Can't you say it yourself kid?' Cid scoffed as he pointed his cigar at Cloud, who was biting his lower lip to prevent himself from doing anything harsh that might blow his cover of having unnatural abilities or affect his control on the newly developing magic he had. After all, that seemed to always happen in those supernatural TV series, either they blew something up or they made things flowed around them in mid-air. Well, better safe than sorry.

'He is a mute. He can't even make a sound even if you have a Behemoth chasing after him,' Genesis answered nonchalantly, but his eyes were burning holes into the detective's head.

'A what?' Cid said with his eyes narrowing on the redhead. Cloud almost slapped his forehead with his hand when Genesis had used the name of a whatsoever monster that wasn't common knowledge to modern people.

'A big moth! Yeah like the ones in the Resident Evil 2 game I had played when I was a kid,' Zack exclaimed as he nodded his head vigorously with a wide grin, satisfied with his smart answer. This made Cloud wished he had a metal pipe wrapped in newspaper with him, so that he could hit the back of his friend's head and knocked him out for his stupidity.

The Detective regarded them even more suspiciously, like he was already sure that they were all guilty when they didn't even know what happened there. Cloud could already see waves of troubles coming towards them ominously and he hadn't even had a decent sleep yet!

The heavy tension in the air was destroyed when a rather timid voice called out from behind them, 'Captain!'

The trio turned their gaze to the newcomer who ran towards them. It was a woman around her early thirties, brown hair tied back in a long ponytail, lime green eyes covered by thick glasses. She wore a grey suit with a white blouse under it.

The woman came to a stop when she was close enough to them, with one hand over her chest and the other over her knee. Out of breath, she panted, 'Mission... accomplished, sir! All entrances... and windows are sealed!'

'You're late Shera!' Cid yelled at the fatigue woman. Cloud inwardly winced at the harshness behind the words, it was not the type of harshness that a boss usually inflicted upon his employees, he had been in that position once, but back then he was still a newbie in the whole singer career who made careless remarks, but in this case, it seemed more on a personal level.

'I'm sorry sir!' the woman, Shera, apologized and kept her head downcast.

'Then come on, we're leaving,' Cid growled as he gestured at the entrance gate.

'Yes sir! Right away sir!' the policewoman exclaimed and gave her superior a salute before she dashed towards the only road the entrance of the mansion's ground.

'Hey, wait a minute! What about our home? We can't get in with all of these on our doors and windows!' Zack yelled at the leaving agent.

'Then go look for another place to sleep tonight, but I assure you that you three won't get this house back 'til we got those bastards!' the detective yelled back.

After the police was out of sight, a murderous aura surrounded Genesis as he muttered menacingly, 'Who does that man think he is?'

'For once I agree with you,' Zack said in agreement as he cracked his knuckles.

_Guys!_ Cloud shouted into their mind. _We don't want anymore troubles than we have already! I know that guy deserve a little tour to Hell itself, but right now we need a place to stay and to get some info on what had happened while we weren't here._

'Yes mother,' Genesis and Zack replied in unison. Both of them stared at each other for a moment, before they turned their head in the opposite direction with a scowl on their face. Cloud simply shook his head in dismay, he felt like he had aged another twenty years.

**

* * *

**

We're really sorry to bother you Bugenhagen.

Cloud wrote down on his notepad.

'Don't worry, Cloud. My home might not be as big as the mansion you live in, but I have enough space for you three to stay,' the old shopkeeper said as he brought them to a large room.

Cloud was glad that the shopkeeper allowed them to stay in his house until they could gather information on what had happened around the mansion while they were investigating one of the jewels of Seven Sins.

'Excuse-me Mister Bugenhagen,' Genesis started, seriousness written all over his face. 'But do you know what had transpired for the past few days?'

Everybody fell in silence as the trio waited for the elder man to speak. It took Bugenhagen a minute or two, like he was searching and weighting his words before he answered, 'There had been several bizarre murders in the forest that surrounds the village and the mansion.'

'What kind of bizarre murders?' Zack asked, suddenly feeling uneasy.

'Some of the victims were... apparently eaten... others had their blood drain out.' The last comment made Cloud turned and stared at Genesis questionably, wondering if the Krusnik was thinking what he was. The first thing that the blond noticed was the rage filled eyes on the stoic face of his pact partner that answered his doubts.

_Great. We have a vampire and some carnivorous monster out there to welcome us. Really, joy!_ Cloud thought silently, feeling more tired than ever. Feeling a headache was coming, he decided to have a walk outside to clear his thoughts a little bit. _Will I ever have a normal day?_

The young man walked towards the fountain in the middle of the village as he thought about the number of probabilities that he might not have to deal with supernatural things for the rest of his life which was close to minus one than zero. When he sat down on one of the bench, he noticed something or rather someone.

A few boutiques away from the herbal shop, a man leaned against a black sleek motorcycle. He wore a black coat with its hood covering his face, but he spotted some strands of silver hair out of the hood. The stranger was as silent and still as a statue, like he was guarding the street he stood and whoever had the courage or the stupidity to walk passed him would meet Death sooner than expected.

Suddenly the man looked up and Cloud found himself staring into cold emotionless green eyes that were very similar to the ones of a lifeless doll, while the rest of the man's face was kept in the shadow cast by the hood. It was extremely freaky. As his eyes were held captive by the stranger's gaze, his body began to tremble like he was sitting inside a freezer.

After a moment, the stranger broke their staring contest and started the engine of his motorcycle. Cloud was shaking his head lightly to clear away the migraine that had suddenly settled itself in his mind while staring into those dark green eyes that reminded of a the entrance of a dark and dangerous forest.

When he looked back again, the man had already left. The young blond pondered on what had just happened. _That's weird. Could he be a vampire? No... Vampires are afraid of daylight, unless it was something like Genesis... I really need to discuss this with them._

* * *

**Finally, I have finished the new chapter and vacation is on the road! ^-^ Hope everyone enjoy the story so far and please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters.**

* * *

Nighttimes Activities

'Let me get this straight, there is a guy with silver hair in town that can be a vampire or something like him.' Zack pointed at Genesis who was sitting next to the window. 'Might be out there waltzing around in the village?'

_Yes Zack._ Cloud said in telepathy as he rubbed his temples gently, because his migraine he had hadn't died down at all since his encounter with the stranger. _When I looked into his eyes, they suddenly seem to attach themselves on me and when he looked away, it was like he snatched part of my brain out._

'So what are we going to do?' Zack asked impatiently as he paced around the middle-sized room. 'I mean, we're not going to stay here forever. We need to get some more clues on where those blasted crystals are and we have to be in the mansion to find them, right?'

For once, Cloud really, really wished he had some sort of glue that could, at least temporarily, kept the mouth of his childhood friend shut, because each word he spoke made tenfold the pain in his head.

Cloud noticed that Genesis shared his frustration too when the Krusnik turned his gaze from the window to glare at the only hyperactive person in the room and growled in annoyance, 'Shut up and sit down, puppy or I'll make sure you will stay on the floor forever!'

Zack immediately stopped pacing around and turned to stare at the immortal being challengingly as he said, 'Well then make me.'

'I think I just did,' Genesis replied, his eyes were switching from blue to red back and forth. Cloud could feel the uprising cat and dog fight between the two and the throbbing pain in his mind was getting worse. It was like his brain split in half since his friends started their shouting discussion.

_Argh! Can you two just shut the fuck up? _Cloud yelled out mentally and a psychic shockwave suddenly washed over the entire room, causing some items to fall off the tables or being thrown one side to another.

Zack stared at the mess before him disbelievingly, while Genesis raised an eyebrow in surprise. Cloud looked at the things that were scattered on the floor by his sudden lost of control over his power. He was scared by the sudden release of his psychic power, but at the same time he felt better.

_Sorry... I'm sorry... _Cloud apologized mentally as he tried to calm his heavy breathing that had quickened when he had realized what he had done. A tensed silence settled between the three of them.

'Boy. Memo to me, never piss Cloud off unless you have a death wish,' Zack said jokingly, attempting to lighten the mood up. He picked up a motorcycle magazine and flipped through a few pages.

Cloud let a small laugh in his mind. _Thanks Zack._

'Don't mention it, Spiky,' Zack replied. 'So are we going to go back or what?'

'The only way for us to know what had happened in the mansion during our absence, is to _be_ in the mansion,' Genesis said calmly as he stare out of the window once more. 'We'll go back when the Goddess of the Night gives us her protection.'

* * *

Genesis followed by Cloud and Zack quickly made their way through the thick wood that surrounded the dark mansion. The two mortals each held a flashlight to see where they were going.

The blond kept casting uneasy glances around him and at the sky. The stars that covered the black blanket of the night seemed... _restless_. It was as if they were trying to get his attention and to tell him to go back.

Cloud stared at the mansion unnerved. There was something... _different_ about the mansion. As he continued to analyse the large structure before him he asked his friends telepathically. _Hey guys, does the mansion seem suddenly darker than usual?_

'Cloud, it's nighttimes and the lights are off,' Zack pointed out.

_That's not the point you idiot!_ The youngest of the trio shouted mentally. _The mansion always had that kind of haunting feel about it, but doesn't it seem eviler tonight than before?_

Seeing Zack's confused look, Cloud abandoned the idea to try explaining in order to show him the differences he was seeing and continued walking towards their home where Genesis was already ripping the tapes off the sealed door.

When they entered, the mute found the switch for the light and opened it, but no light poured out from the lamps. _Is the generator out?_

'No,' Genesis suddenly said as he swept his flashlight on the floor, where it was squeaky clean, as if he had spotted a trace of footprints on it. 'Something is draining the light out.'

The Krusnik carefully walked towards the center of the grand foyer, the light coming from his flashlight was getting dimmer. He shut it off and snapped his fingers, creating a small fireball on his palm.

Then he dropped the fire onto the marble floor and the flame hovered above the floor a few inches. What the light revealed made the two mortals feeling the nausea. The entire floor was covered with dried blood and shreds of rotten skin!

_What kind of monster could do such a thing?_ Cloud's thought echoed faintly the mind of his friend.

'Something darker than what we'd had encountered so far, that's for sure,' Zack muttered as he tried to breath less with his nose and more with his mouth. 'I mean, how come we didn't smell it or see... _this_ when we opened the door?'

'Simple. Darkness was what kept this _scenery_ hidden, only light shows us what it hides behind, but the power that covers the floor is unlike any of the powers of the vampires I had hunted possessed,' Genesis explained as he created five more fireballs, hanging around them like small lamps. 'Hmm... There might be a spell cast on this floor that duplicates the power. Search for a skull or skulls, they might be around here somewhere.'

'Oh no, I don't think we need that as proof. What you have just said is enough proof,' a familiar voice said from behind them, 'for the brutal murders you three had committed.'

The three of them turned around to see Detective Highwind and his assistance at the doorway, both holding flashlights and with their handguns pointed at them.

'Shit,' Zack muttered.

_More like deep shit. _Cloud thought out loud, forgetting that he shouldn't speak telepathically.

'Shut up you three! You are all under arrest of murder!' Cid shouted at them and cocked the hammer of his gun.

'Bravo, bravo,' Genesis said as he clapped his hand boringly, totally unfazed by the fact that their secret was being discovered. 'Finding us on the crime scene and discovering the secret of our strange powers. What are you going to do now? Shoot us?'

'Hello Mr. I-am-such-a-egoistic-jackass!' the older of the two mortals hissed angrily waving his hand at the half-vampire's face to get his attention. 'Not all of us here are _undead_. A bullet could,' Zack made the action of shooting his own head with a gun, 'get us R.I.P _for good_. In case you don't know what R.I.P means. I'll tell you. It fucking means REST IN PEACE!'

'What are you afraid of puppy? You doubt about my ability to keep the two of you intact or your talent to dodge an attack and coward in a corner?' the redhead demanded, while a dangerous red glint appeared in his cerulean eyes.

Cloud was ready to release another wave of his telekinetic power, because he _would_ not allow or handle another cat and dog fight while he got a gun pointed at him and in a home filled with disgusting remains of innocent victims!

'My, my, my, we have such feisty preys tonight,' a feminine voice, with a thick accent, said from above.

All of them looked up to the second floor to find an about 25-year-old paled skin woman with long dark red colour thick hair and ruby eyes that reminded Cloud of the bloodlust ones of Genesis when he was first awaken from his crypt. She wore tight black short pants, dark high-heel leather boots, a red crop top with silver lining and a black choker with a bright dodger blue stone.

'Who are you?' Genesis demanded venomously at the woman who dared trespassed in his mansion.

The vampire looked down at him with interest as she replied in a rather flirting tone, 'My name is Rosso my dear. Rosso the Crimson, at your service. And here is my partner.'

Cloud slowly backed away when he saw what the lady was gesturing at and said through his telepathic ability. _Genesis. I think I know where all those skulls ended up._ Though he wondered how in both Heaven and Hell something _that_ gigantic could be so well hid behind the woman.

The monster that was on its four legs, it had the head of a bear with long curved horns, the giant scaled body of a lion and a tail similar to one of a dragon. Thick spiky blue fur covered its body from the top of its head to its back. A long chain, where dozen of human skulls were attached to it, was wrapped around its neck like a necklace. The giant golden narrow eyes were focused on them as the beast let out a terrifying roar.

'This is Azul the Cerulean. He is quite anxious to make your acquaintances,' Rosso purred as she revealed long sharp fangs, 'and so do I.'

The two polices behind Cloud started to fire at the creature of the night. The vampire let out a bone-chilling laugh as a red mist surrounded her, shielding her from all the bullets coming towards her until the guns ran out of ammo.

_RUN! _Cloud cried into the two polices' mind just as the two monstrosities jumped towards them. All five of them immediately ran towards the entrance with the monsters hot on their tail.

'Cloud! The seal!' Genesis yelled. The blond nodded and cut the palm of his hand with the ruby crystal and the winged insignia appeared on his hand as soon as blood trickled out of the small wound, releasing the seal over the Krusnik's true form.

Genesis stopped running and turned around to stop the gigantic beast's track with his materialized blood rapier single-handily. The impact caused the ground beneath the Krusnik to crush, but Genesis still stood as if nothing had happened as he stared at the beast, Azul, right in the eyes. Cloud couldn't believe how fast and powerful Genesis was right now when he was still recovering from the injuries he got at Junon.

'Go back to the abyss where you belongs you Behemoth,' Genesis spat coldly before he released a powerful fireball straight at the monster's face which caused it to let out a strangled and angry cry as it stumbled back. The vampire ignored its injured companion and jumped over Genesis to chase after the humans. The Krusnik was about to release another fireball and turned the vampire into ash, but he was tackled down by Azul who had quickly recovered from the blast.

_Genesis!_ Cloud yelled in his mind as he watched his pact partner being pinned to the ground and stopped running.

'You're mine!' Rosso shouted as she jumped towards him, sharp nails readied to slice his throat opened.

The mute put up his hands and a green hallow shield was immediately formed between him and Rosso, pushing the vampire back. _How the hell did I did that?_

'Cloud!' Zack yelled as he and the police were near the gates.

_Get out of here Zack! I'll hold her as long as I can! _Cloud shouted to his hesitating friend. _GO NOW! YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING HERE! RUN!_

Zack looked like he was going to protest, but hesitated at the last second before he turned and barked in frustration at the two policemen to follow him, running away from the battle and from harm.

Cloud turned his attention back to his task at hand which was to distract the vampire lady's attention until Genesis finished off the behemoth and tried to stay alive and in one piece. _Great plan, Cloud Strife. Really, great plan indeed. How are you going to distract a bloodlust creature that seems to love toying with her foods before she devours them?_

Rosso rose up from the ground where she had fallen ungracefully when she had hit the barrier head-on and hissed at the blond angrily, 'I'll make sure you don't have a single drop of blood left when I'll finish with you!'

_So much for trying to get her attention._ Cloud thought before he ran into the dark woods, hoping he could lose her in it. He could hear the hisses and claws scratching against the trees as he ran deeper into the forest. _Think, think, think Cloud! Which spell could be the most useful to protect yourself against a vampire?_

Suddenly he felt something pierced his shoulder from behind and he opened his mouth, letting out a soundless cry as he fell to the ground and clutched his shoulder in pain. He looked back to see three black long claws impaled in his shoulder with some yellowish green liquid pouring out of his wound. _Shit... poison..._

Sky blue eyes were starting to lose their focus as the approaching figure of the vampire grew blurrier. Cloud slowly got up as he shook his head lightly. _Got to stay awake, got to stay awake, got to stay awake. Don't lose it now Cloud._

'Come on, run, run, and run. Run far and wide. It's not fun when you don't struggle before I slashed, strangled, and slaughtered. Beaten, stabbed and crushed. Garrotted and impaled. Shot and executed you without mercy,' Rosso purred at Cloud evilly as the mortal struggled to stay conscious while pulling her claws out in one go. She slowly walked closer to her weakening prey, licking her lips hungrily.

_Don't even think of having a free easy meal! _Cloud shouted mentally and sent a weak wave of his newly acquired telekinetic power which threw the claws in his hand towards the vampire. His attack had not only scratched her face, it had also thrown a punch-like hit at her in the process, but he had no time to cry out for his small victory, because it had only gotten Rosso angrier. Before he could even blink, she was already in front of him with her hand wrapped around his neck in a crushing hold, lifted him off the ground and slammed him against a tree.

'I had enough of your _tricks_,' the vampire snarled, eyes growing bright red, as she tightened her grip, slowly choking the weak mage to death.

Cloud was pretty sure that Death was near and it was coming for him if he didn't do something. _I can't die... I made a promise... no, promises... I have to keep them!_

'Operating System. Change from observation mode to search and destroy mode.' Cloud heard a faint monotone voice said from above him. Then he saw something flashed from the branches of a nearby tree before Rosso lost her grip over his throat and he fell to the ground, gasping for air.

'SHOW YOURSELF!' the vampire roared as she pulled out something silver from her left shoulder with a grunt and threw it to the ground.

Cloud carefully got himself in a sitting position behind some trees as he kept breathing calmly, so that it would helped slow down whatever poison that was inside him, and quietly observed the slightly panicking monster who was searching for her hidden foe. The young mage knew that whoever had harmed her was definitely still here, but the question was where he could be hiding.

Though that wasn't what he should be concerned about right now, his primary concern was to stay alive as long as possible, because he knew that if he fell unconscious or died then that would lead Genesis to his death. Loosing all of your power in the middle of a battle didn't sound very pleasant at all. _Cloud focus! You still have a vampire to take care of!_

The blond snapped out of his reveries as two gunshots was sounded. He looked up to see a man covered in black clothes jumped from one branch to another as he kept firing at the creature with two guns while being chase by an angry and hungry vampire who was protected by the red mist that surrounded her whenever she was targeted by something.

_Wait a minute... _Cloud studied the way Rosso's shield surrounded her for a moment before it disappeared as she strike the mysterious individual. _That's it! The mist surrounds her _only _when she aware of being attacked by something!_

When the mute tried to get up, he felt his body gone numb and could hardly moved a few fingers._ Damn it! A spell! I need a healing spell!_

_Goddess of Earth_

_Lend me your strength_

_Give me the power to cure_

Cloud felt the wood of the tree and the soil of the ground were strengthening the spell he just cast and the nauseous was slowly leaving him. When the magic had finished its work in his body, he careful stood up and took a deep breath to clear away the remaining dizziness in his head.

_Pay back time._ The young mage muttered in his mind as he looked around and spot the two fighters a few feet away. The vampire was gaining the upper hand as she kept in a close range combat against her opponent who seemed to only have two long range weapons to defend him.

'Got you, you little pest!' The blond heard Rosso cried gleefully as he ran towards their direction. He looked up to see the vampire pierced through the arm of the hooded stranger with her long sharp nails and threw him into the tree next to him.

_Are you alright?_ Cloud asked mentally as he approached the collapsed man, but he gasped in surprised when he saw the man's arm. There was blood all over his arm, but it wasn't red, it was white! And the parts where there supposed to be veins were wires! _At least the bones are normal..._

'Right arm damage excided 80% percent. Estimate time for complete repair: five hours, five minutes, thirty-six seconds. Capabilities lower to 70%. Battle functions operational,' the man intoned dully as he got up with his right hand that was still holding the gun, dangling loosely at his side.

_I'll take that as "Could have been worse". _The blond thought inwardly wincing at the sight of the state of the torn-up half mechanic arm and he doubted that any of his healing spells would work on non-organic things.

'Enemy approaching at twelve o'clock,' the man said robotically as he raised his only useable arm and fired.

Cloud looked at the direction he was firing and spotted Rosso charging towards them fast as an incredibly stupid and insane plan was forming in the back of his mind. _Gaia! I'm really turning into a pyromaniac of damn fire magic! _He thought as he focused the magic around them and into his hands as he kept chanting in his mind two different Celtic incantations that he had read about in the spell book before they came here.

A fire wall irrupted between them and Rosso when she was a few feet from them, shielding them from the vampire.

'Fools! You think a small fire will protect your pest lives!' the vampire yelled before she jumped over the flames, but she didn't know that she fell right into Cloud's trap.

Cloud held up his hands like he was holding a bow notched with an arrow and shouted in his mind. _Saighead!_ A flame-like arrow shot out from his hands and hit the bloodlust creature square in the chest. Rosso's eyes widen in both realization and terror as she crashed to the ground.

The stranger ceased firing and lowered his gun. Cloud took deep slow breathes as he tried to calm himself, watching the red hair vampire clutching her chest, where a visible scotched hole could be seen, and clawing the ground like an animal.

The vampire snapped her head up and stared at him with red bloodshot eyes filled with hatred as she tried to crawl her way to him while parts of her body were slowly reducing to ashes.

'I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU! **I'LL KILL YOU!**' Rosso growled the words like a beast.

Cloud simply stood there, frozen on the spot by fear and unable to make a single movement. The hate and pain he saw in the dying vampire's eyes scared him. He felt as if he was being forced-fed with the very same hate and pain and it made him sick.

As he watched Rosso crawled closer and closer, he pitied the painful life of this monstrous creature. Finally he looked away while telling the gunslinger beside through his telepathic ability, inwardly hoping that the part machine and part man really could hear his words. _Please... End her life..._

The blond shut his eyes when he heard the gunshot rang in the night. For some reasons, he felt guilty for tricking Rosso to her death. He couldn't feel the relief or the happiness of his triumph over the vampire.

'Mission complete,' the stranger intoned dully.

Cloud sighed heavily as he ran his hand through his spikes as he turned to study the man beside him. Though this person had the appearance of a human being and some parts of its body were organic too, he seemed more like an artificial intelligent machine than a man. _People of science... They toyed with life like children..._

A sudden beep sounded under the heavy leather hood of the stranger as he spoke mechanically, 'Target enemy was successfully eliminated. I will immediately retreat back to base A-O71.'

_Wait!_ Cloud called out when the man was about to leave. When the machine turned around to face him he gasped in surprise to see the same green cat-like eyes that he had seen this afternoon. _...Thank you for saving me back there._

The young mage found it strange that he didn't feel any kind of migraine while staring into those eyes. The cyborg had a very define feature, almost feminine, with ivory white skin.

'Yazoo.'

_Huh? What?_

'My name is Yazoo,' the machine gunslinger responded. 'It is require to present yourself to the person you saved is it not?'

_Yazoo. _Cloud repeated, the name sounded strange in his mind. _My name is Cloud. Cloud Strife._

'Cloud... Strife...' Yazoo repeated slowly as if it helped him to remember it. After a moment or two, he simply nodded his head and left, like he had faded into the darkness.

_Yazoo... Hmm... Who is he? More importantly what is he? And for whom was he working for? Base A-O71..._ _Maybe I should discuss this with- SHIT! GENESIS!_ Cloud immediately ran back to the mansion when he remembered his partner being pinned down by Azul while he escaped to the forest.

He followed the feelings that the trees gave out and the silent whispers of the stars to find his way out of this dark forest. He was out of breath when he reached the stony road of the mansion. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the Krusnik standing next to a pile of black ash. _Thank gods you are alright._

His mental voice caused Genesis to look at him in surprise as he replied bluntly, 'And you look terrible.'

The remark made Cloud laughed gently in his mind. If Genesis could still insult him, then that meant he was fine and unharmed. It was rather amusing for him to hear the underline meaning of Genesis' insults when the man was actually trying to say that he was glad that he was alright. _Hmm I guess I could get use to this._

Genesis regarded him coldly as he muttered under his breath, 'Whatever.'

Cloud simply smiled in return before his gaze fell upon the choker on the ground, he bent down and took it up. He recognized the jewel as the one that Rosso was wearing. _She must have dropped it when she was thrown back by my shield._

Suddenly the blue stone brightened in his hand, covering his vision by the bright light for a second. He blinked away the black spots before his eyes refocused on the stone. _Well... I guess that makes this stone number two._

Then Genesis did something that he never dreamt he would do. He laughed. The Krusnik who held onto a cold indifferent mask in front of all mortals was now laughing. And if he dared to hazard an opinion, he liked it. It was much better than Rosso's evil I-am-going-to-kill-you-soon laugh. The sound of Genesis' laugh had a more calming and charming ring in it.

Oh yeah. He could definitely get used to this!

* * *

** Author's note - I was really having a hard time to concentrate and write this chapter, but I had finally completed it. I hope you have all enjoy this new chapter and please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters.**

* * *

One Deal and... Two locations?

Cloud watched the glaring contest between Genesis and Detective Cid Highwind. It was just last night that they had survived the attack of the two freaking horrible tormenting monsters and they were still not on good terms! Could the Detective be at least grateful that Genesis had kind of indirectly saved his and his assistant's life? And could Genesis be a little less territorial possessive? This was not what he wanted the first thing in the morning!

After another five minutes of tensed silence, Cloud could no longer bear this situation and he wasn't the only one. Of course, Zack was always the first one to lose his cool and started to babble senselessly. 'Hey guys! All of us had things to do, so could we... eh... get over this? Cuz time won't stop for any of us. And if you guys continue your staring contest, we'll be fossilized-'

_Gaia... How the hell could he possibly be so ignoring to the consequences of his words?_ Cloud thought silently as the policeman and the Krusnik turned their death glaring gaze to the blabbering porcupine head.

'-seriously, if you two keep this up I- ok I'll shut up.' Zack quickly stopped his useless speech when he finally noticed the glares from the two angry and short-tempered men.

_That's it!_ Cloud shouted mentally, losing his patience._ You two have to put aside your goddamn pride and accept the fact we might need to cooperate in the future!_

_Detective Highwind. Whether you want to help us or not, you and your assistant had already seen and entered a world that was long forgotten and hidden from humanity and both of you would be hunted down by things that you thought only exist in horror stories, but they are not anymore. Those monsters would probably haunt you two like they did to me and Zack._ Cloud glanced at the redhead meaningfully. _This means that the only way for us to get out of this in one piece is to help each other._

Genesis gave him a look that said he didn't give damn of what he was thinking or what he was planning as long as he could get his friends out of their personal hell hole.

Cid studied him with a critical eye for a moment before he sighed heavily and leaned back against the couch. 'Alright. I'll turn a blind eye and allow you guys to do whatever you want, but I want you three to do something for me in exchange.'

_Which is?_ Cloud asked cautiously, hoping that whatever task the Detective wanted them to do wouldn't be anything close to the word suicidal, because they had been doing things that were more than suicidal already.

Cid looked deep into his eyes and said in a deadly cutting tone, 'I want you guys to find a monster at Rocket Town and kill it, slowly and painfully.'

The blond could only stare at the older man in shocked, because that was not the kind of request he was expecting at all! _Wait a minute. Does that means the monsters we encountered last night wasn't the first ones you had seen?_

'Mind your own business and keep the end of bargain and I'll keep mine.' That was Cid's rude reply before he got up and left the room.

'Sir!' Shera called out as she made to stand up and follow her superior.

'I'm goin' to grab a smoke,' Cid replied in a guff. 'We leave in ten minutes.'

Shera looked at Cid sadly as the man left. She sighed heavily as she muttered a small apology to them. 'Please don't be angry at him. He has a hard time to accept he was stuck here.'

_What happened at Rocket Town?_ Cloud asked.

'Well... it happened about three years ago. I was a new rookie back then at the Rocket Town Police Department, RTPD for short, and back then Cid was the squad leader of the greatest team in town. It all started when we received a small request from a company that asked us to escort a truck holding an important package to Midgar City.'

'It sounded innocent at first, but the truth behind it was rotten hell. I was among the few rookies who were picked to help Cid's squad for the mission. Of course, we didn't know that we were all going towards a nightmare...' Shera whispered as she rubbed her arms nervously.

'What had happened?' Zack asked.

'I... I don't... remember very well. All I remember was something dark and foggy came out of the truck and people started to disappear one by one or being ripped into half by something with sharp fangs. Everyone died and blood was everywhere. I guess I fainted afterward... and when I woke up, I'm at the hospital... alive...' Shera spoke in a faint voice.

_So... You and Cid were the only..._

'Yes... We're the only survivors of the incident,' the distressed policewoman replied. 'And the whole case was just called an accident. No one from the higher-up believe us that it was some kind of monsters who had killed all our comrades, our friends. He wanted their families to know the truth, not some lies to fake the truth of how they really died, why they died. So they sent him here.' She gesture around them. 'In the middle of no where, so that he could _cool his heels_.'

A tensed silence felt between them, each one lost in their own thoughts, until Shera left with Cid. After the two officers left and it was only the three of them in the room, they discussed among themselves of the matter at hand.

_What do you guys think about Cid's story?_

'Well we're definitely going to help them,' Zack started with a wide grin addressed to Cloud. The blond recognised that grin all too well. It was the one his friend often used whenever he was determined to accomplish certain task given to him.

'No, we're not,' was the bored response from Genesis when they settled their gaze on him.

'And why's that? Mr. I-am-on-the-top-of-the-world!' the porcupine head immediately snarled.

'Because his revenge against whatever creature it was had nothing to do with my goal and I don't see any profit in helping him to seek his revenge. Are my words to complicate for you to understand or do you need me to draw the big picture for you, Puppy?' the Krusnik said tauntingly as Zack was readied to jump on him and tried to punch the daylight out of him.

_Stop it you two!_ Cloud yelled out in their mind, making Zack flinched back slightly while Genesis seemed unaffected by his mental cry.

After making sure that the two of them wouldn't try to taunt each other or ripped each other's throat, he continued. _Look we don't want them to label us as cannibalistic serial killers or disillusion cultists, so we have no choice, but to accept what Cid asked to do. After all, whatever had attacked them could be no longer around Rocket Town or it had died..._

'I doubt that whatever had killed those people was gone,' Genesis said in soft tone as he got up from his armchair to stare out of the window. 'Monster with powers over darkness often prefers to stay near a large populated area. Light creates shadows, without light, there would be no shadows. The light from the city would allow it to move undetected through many place and it could very easily prey on any unsuspected innocent.'

Cloud shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he listened to Genesis' words, not liking what the ability of the creature allowed it to do. He felt that he already had his share with the darkness after Beelzebub's summon at Junon and he really didn't intend to know any more of it than he already had.

'We're going to need a lot of flashlight, don't we?' Zack said, attempting to lighten the mood, only to receive a "No" from the pact partners, plus a small shove on the arm from Cloud.

* * *

After they decided to leave earlier the next day, Genesis went to do some more research on the possible type of monster they would be fighting and Zack went to pack up their supplies.

Cloud was tired as hell and his muscles were now complaining to him about the abuses they had taken last night. He had thought about going to get some sleep, but when his thoughts led him to the gross bloody mass of decaying fleshes that were still in the grand foyer, he felt like his wish to sleep would have to wait, because he preferred to sleep without his conscience reminding him of the pile of torn human parts and skins that were still in his home.

So the youngest member of the house decided to go clean up the mess that Rosso and Azul had left behind, before the smell could go any worse or the stain of the blood became harder to rub off. At least cleaning the floor would take his mind from imagining the worst scenarios of numerous victims that had been prey to the monsters, but when he saw the dried up remains with flies flying around and the decomposing stench in the air, he found himself muttering small prayers to the poor souls who were unfortunate to become the dinner of the two blood-craving creatures.

'Scared?' the mute heard someone asked from above him. He turned around and looked up to see Genesis leaning on his side against the handrail and reading a thick old book.

_More or less... Yes..._ The young blond answered the half-vampire as he opened the closet's door and took out the mop. _I guess seeing that goddamn big fat fly used the shadow of people to trap them at the exposition at Junon and when we got back, I got that Rosso trying to strangle me to death... I guess my courage to face the darkness has been shot down quite a bit these days and it definitely needs an eternity to recharge._

As Cloud started to mop the floor, carefully picking up the remains of the victims and put them in the garbage bag, Genesis put aside his book and asked, 'Are you underestimating my strength or are you overestimating our enemy's power?'

Now that he asked about it, Cloud couldn't really find an exact answer to that question. True, Genesis was a quite powerful man that had complete mastery over the flames... when he was in his release form... but from the way Shera described the attacks the monster dealt on the entire team, he still had some doubts that Genesis could handle two monsters at the same time. After all, so far, he had only seen the Krusnik winning, more or less, one-on-one battles, so he couldn't find anything that could provide him with some more confidences that Genesis could handle one-against-two situations alone.

It was better if he was honest with the fiery man, because he might just need to suffer the verbal assaults than a hurl of fireballs for not telling what he was truly thinking.

_Truthfully, I doubt your ability to fight two monsters at the same time and they could be more vicious and merciless than Rosso and Azul..._ Cloud shuddered at the mere thought of those two. What a dangerous pair those two were. Both of them were driven by their own instinct of hunger for blood and flesh in a very horrid way. _Also, out of the three of us, only you have offensive spells and powers against the enemies, while I and Zack were pretty much useless in situation where we needed to attack our adversaries in full force. In fact, I really doubt that Zack's fist will do any damage or any of my barriers could hold off attacks for three hours straight._

The blond looked up at his partner, waiting and expecting some sort of response. Though Genesis only regarded him with an emotionless stare for a moment, before he chuckled lightly and replied, 'You are right about the fact that the two of you were useless on the field, but you are _definitely_ wrong about me not being able to handle two enemies at the same time.'

_This is serious Genesis!_ Cloud shouted in his mind, angry that his partner had not taken him seriously. Of course, he understood the concept that lack of confidence could automatically lead one to the losing side, but so did the concept of over-confidence!_ We barely have any clue about what our enemies are! The only thing that we can be certain, it's that one of them probably use some sort of long-range dark power, while the other was a more close-combat type creature._

'Yes, I know that already, but what could _you_ make out of it?' the Krusnik calmly asked, his calm demeanour gave off an almost professor-like feeling.

Still thinking that Genesis was toying with him, Cloud replied more fiercely through his telepathic link. _Well I think that's pretty obvious! The one who uses its dark power takes out those who are farthest away from them, while the other takes care of those who are the closest. This also means that the one who deals the physical damages must protect its partner from harm, since its partner either has a lot of difficulties to handle close-range battles on its own or it couldn't handle more then a few direct hits. Does that answer your damn question bastard!_

Cloud was so frustrated that his power had gone slightly haywire and caused the whole mansion to shake for a minute. His sudden power surge made him felt... free and weightless. It was like the huge burden on his shoulders had been lifted and tossed away.

'Better?' Genesis asked with a smirk.

_As much as I hate to admit it. Yes, very much better._ Cloud replied as he shrugged, liking this tensionless feeling. It had already been a while since he felt this free. _I guess everything that had happened so far had taken toll on me. Thank you._

The Krusnik simply smirked in response as he turned to leave with his books, while Zack came tumbling down the stairs in panic.

'Did something happen? Was it another of those things?' the porcupine head shouted his questions as his eyes darted from one side to the other.

_It's alright Zack. I just lost control over my emotions for a second that's all._ Cloud explained, his friend breathed out a sigh of relief, as he dumped the pieces of corpses into a cardboard box that he would later burn, so that those poor souls could rest in peace.

'Man... I thought we're going to get another fight again and it's not even dark yet!' Zack said playfully, but the mute could see that he was tired and was trying very hard to keep up his happy face.

_Zack, if you are tired, you could go to sleep. I can handle the rest._ The young mage-in-training suggested, not wanting Zack to overdo things when his body and mind had more or less reached their limit of handling supernatural stuffs.

'No. No. No, I'm fine, really. I can pack up everything in no time,' Zack replied with a weak laugh as he scratched the back of his neck, but Cloud could see that he was lying about his condition.

_Zack._ Cloud started, looking into his friend's eyes sternly. _Go get some sleep and when you wake up, I'll help you packing. No buts or whatsoever until then, ok?_

Of course, his childhood friend fought teeth and nails to deny the fact that he was extremely fatigue and needed rest, but Cloud was stubborn and persistent. It took him a while to convince Zack. Still, at the very end, victory was his and the porcupine head had no other choice than to head back to his room and go to bed.

After cleaning up everything, Cloud took the box containing the remains outside and burned it with a tiny fire spell that he could conjure. He sat down on the steps as he watched the box twisted and bended into odd angle as the flame consumed it, he wondered if there would be more innocent people who would die by the hands of monsters as he, Genesis and Zack continued their search for the jewels of the Seven Sins and delved deeper into this dark hidden and forgotten world.

When the whole box became nothing more than a pile of ashes that followed the wind's journey, Cloud decided to get some sleep, but before he could get to the door, he felt a strange, but powerful, wave of energy covered the whole mansion.

The whole place looked like came out of negative image, everything's color was reversed, and even time seemed to be affected, Cloud could practically see the tiny little ashes that was billowed by the wind moving backward in slow motion.

_What the hell? Genesis?_ Cloud tried to sense his pact partner's presence through their mind-link, but he couldn't feel anything inside the chateau, it was as if there weren't any living soul in it. He quickly got up to open the door, but it was stuck. _Damn it! What's going on here?_

Then he felt it, something that was very much alive was coming behind him, he turned around to see a distortion was forming in the middle of the road and someone emerged from the wormhole, like a spiritual entity that was being summoned from a ritual.

Cloud tensed as he prepared to try and sent whoever it was back through the wormhole with his telekinetic ability, but he was so surprised to see who the figure that had emerged was that he stayed frozen on his spot. _You..._

'Ah, I see that you remember me, little one. Though last time I didn't properly introduced myself did I? My name is Lazard Deusericus,' the man who Cloud had bumped into at Junon greeted as he put his black fedora over his heart and gave a small bow to the stunned blond. 'You don't need to afraid. I am here just to... heh... _offer _my assistance to you.'

_Really? _Cloud scoffed, putting his guard up again._ And what's the catch? I doubt whatever you offer doesn't come with a price._

'That will come later on, but I assure you that my service will help you greatly. For knowledge is power. I can give you information that you seek and powerful incantations that you would need in your journey,' the gentleman offered with a smile.

_You still haven't said the price for them._ Cloud replied stiffly, still not convinced that this man was here to help. After all, from all those stories and legends he had heard when he was a little kid. The devil was always the big winner in every ending, so there must be something off in this deal.

Lazard let out a sigh before he spoke again. 'How about I tell you the first payment you will give me, then would you consider accepting my offer?'

The mute hesitated for a moment. If what this man offered to him could help, then not only would he be able to protect himself better and maybe... just maybe he could find a spell that could heal his vocal cords and he would get his voice and life back. Afterward, Zack wouldn't have to worry about him and Genesis would probably be very happy that he no longer had to look after him. _Ok, but if any of your demands involve a life or anything that might harm somebody. The deal is off._

The blond hair man smiled in a mischief way that made Cloud felt like he was going to regret his decision later. 'I only want to borrow the jade necklace that your dear mother had left behind.'

The demand had utterly thrown Cloud off guard. His mother had never showed her necklace in public, so it was impossible that someone might had seen it, and even he had only seen her wore it once, she usually kept it in her jewellery box. He had once asked her if it was his father who had given her that necklace, but she had never answered his question and had only stared at the jade with sadness and guilt, so he never asked her again. After her death, he always kept it the jewellery box just like his mother did, burying a secret that he could no longer discover.

_What? How did-_

'I know many secrets in this world, truth that must be learned and lies that must be revealed,' the stranger answered cryptically.

_Lies? Truth?_ Cloud repeated as his mind jumped from one thought to another, then he wondered if it was possible that he might uncovered this secret that her mother took with her to her grave. Still, the jade was important to him. _You won't break the necklace, turned it to dust or anything, right?_

'I swear upon my power and life that I will return your jade necklace unscathed and unspoiled,' the man in suit said solemnly. The mute could feel some sort of power shifting in the air, making questioned if what he read in Genesis' book about people and beings' name was deeply attached to their powers in many ways.

Cloud sighed tiredly, thinking that desperate time needed desperate measures. _Ok, it's a deal. I'll give you my mother's necklace after we came back from Rocket Town, is that alright for you?_

'Of course, young sir,' the man said, making a small bow and putting his hat back on, before he turned and walked away. 'About the being you are searching for, it is hiding deep within the Nibel Montains, where the sunlight was never been able to touch and the phantoms' painful moans echoed deep in the depth of darkness.'

_Huh?_ Before Cloud could ask something, his whole vision was covered by bright light. When the light dimmed, everything around him had returned back to normal and Lazard had disappeared without a trace. _The Nibel Montains? Great, it's going to be a longer trip than I thought. When will I ever had the chance to put a rain check on the supernatural stuffs?_

_

* * *

_

**GOD! I had finally finished this chapter! I got a huge writer's block during my vacation and it was very hard for me to finish this. Hope that everyone enjoy the story so far. I promise that there will be action in the chapter. So look forward to it and please leave a little review! Thank you!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer - I don't own any Final Fantasy VII or its characters. They belong rightfully to Square Enix. ENJOY!**

* * *

Creeping Shadows

How did this happen?_ Cloud pondered as he watched the darkness swirling around him and it was slowly swallowing his arms and legs. It wasn't exactly hurting him. It was more like having his hands and legs shoved into icy cold water and hot burning fire at the same time._

_For a few minutes, he wondered if he had hit his head or something earlier today, because he was not even afraid of this pitch black darkness that surrounded him. But then again, he couldn't find a reason to be scare when this darkness was caused by someone who was just being emotionally unstable at the moment._

_Now that he thought about, it had all started this morning when they arrived at Rocket Town..._

* * *

Rocket Town was situated at the north-west side of the continent. It was famous for the history that surrounded the old broken rocket at the outskirt of the town.

Five decades ago, the place was known as a test base where mankind would launched their very first rocket, Arnihs-62, to space, but due to a malfunction in the engines, it crashed down and was damaged beyond repair. There were several attempts to rebuild the rocket, though none had been successful and so, the whole base was abandoned. A few years later, the tiny nameless village near the base soon grew more and more populated, its territory started to expand to the rocket, then after a while, people started to call the village, Rocket Town.

_I HATE THIS PLACE!_ Cloud shouted loudly in his mind, careful not to let his mental outburst reached to the mind of someone else other than Zack, Genesis, Cid and Shera. Who knew how would people react to a telepathic blond-haired guy? Hopefully, not with pitchforks or an army.

Truthfully, there weren't many things he hated in this world, there were only two things:

A) Failure was not an option. He hated the feeling of not being able to accomplish something, it torn your heart in slow painful pace and crushed your hope till it was nothing more than a pile of mush.

B) He hated the sound of engines more than anything! When he was a kid, he abhorred the sound of the loud roaring engines of motorcycles and cars. The sounds they made gave him immense headaches! It took him a while before he was able to build a certain level resistance against the bothersome noises, but it still had some limits to it!

_I thought this place was supposed to be a quiet town!_ Cloud complained to Cid as a group of fighters jet flew pass them.

'You could hardly described Rocket Town as a quiet little town, Cloud,' Shera started. 'After the town had prospered, a lot of veteran flight pilots had settled in, many of them wished to teach their hard-earned skills to the children. So they had established the Flight Academy, it was known as the world's greatest Academy for pilots. Many who had entered the school came out as remarkable pilots. And I believe that it is the week of exams, so it's pretty normal that-' Another group of jets flew over and they were louder than the one before. 'Well, you'll get use to it after a while.'

'That would be after I see those wrenched machines burn to the ground,' Genesis said, his voice barely above a whisper, but everyone in their group could hear it clearly. Zack and Cid were throwing death-glares at him, Shera gasped in fear, while Cloud simply rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Cloud knew that the Krusnik was serious and the idea was quite tempting for him too, but he also knew that Genesis wouldn't really do it, because they needed to keep a low profile on their powers. Doing some things stupid like shooting down noisy airplanes was definitely not a way to keep attentions away from them. Still, if the damned jets continued their loud parades, then he might let his control slipped a little bit. Just a little bit.

Tired and annoyed, they quickly made their way to a nearby inn, where they had reserved their rooms, and settled down for the day, because at night, they would go and hunt in darkness...

* * *

'Not that I am stupid or something, but why are we hunting something that could control darkness or the shadow at _night_?' Zack asked he carried a heavy suitcase into the middle of the small rooms with three beds that he shared with Cloud and Genesis. 'Aren't we like walking right into a visible trap and giving it the advantage here?'

During their whole journey to Rocket Town, the three of them had discussed their plan to hunt down the beast. Genesis had proposed that they wait for night to hunt it, while Zack said that they lay low for a few nights and wait for it to come to them. Cloud didn't give much of his opinion, because their discussion about this dark being reminded him of Lazard's words. He hadn't told either of them anything about the mysterious man's cryptic warning yet, but he had the suspicion that Genesis had more or less knew what had happened from just reading the surface of his mind. Though he had to wait until Zack was out of earshot to ask Genesis how much he knew.

_Zack, could you get me some painkillers, my head is split into two by those damned jets._ Cloud asked with a grimace as he rubbed his temples in smooth circles.

'Sure Cloud. I'll be right back!' Zack replied as he immediately ran into the corridor, slamming the door shut loudly.

The petite blond waited another minute before he turned to Genesis and asked mentally. _Did you know?_

'Know what?' Genesis said as he took out another ancient- like book from his bag and began to flip through it.

_You read my mind._ Cloud replied bluntly.

The immortal stopped looking at whatever information the book he held contained and turned to stare at him with icy blue eyes. This was a definite sign that he was not in a nice mood. 'The man who I saw in your mind is stranger to me.'

_He refers to himself as Lazard Deusericus, does it ring any bells?_ His partner shook his head. _Anyway, he told me that whatever the thing we're after is hiding in the Nibel Mountains._

'And you trust his words?' Genesis questioned, doubting his judgement.

Not that he really trusted what Lazard told him, but his instincts were telling him that the mysterious blond was trustworthy. It was pretty much the same feeling he got that night before they went into mansion to face Rosso and Azul. Of course, he could be wrong about his intuition.

'Fine,' Genesis finally said after a long silence passed between them. 'I'll see how this will play out and I hope this won't become another regret of yours.'

_Don't worry. It won't._ Cloud muttered softly inside his mind as Genesis left him alone in the room. He sat down on the bed next to him and let out a heavy sigh as he ran his hands over his gravity-defying hair. Gaia, he was tired and stressed. It was like his life became bumpier than ever, worse than when he and his mother were working restlessly to obtain enough money to buy food to feed them.

It was like some deities decided that his life wasn't bad enough, they decided to spice things up for him! Which was entirely unnecessary! Now he had deal with every damned evil creatures that would crawled out of the darkness, all because of his own curiosity of the person who had appeared in his very first dreams! To sum it all up, Genesis had simply waltzed in his life and turned it upside down and inside out!

Blue eyes slowly stared up at the ceiling, studying the patterns of the old white paint. He knew he was being childish and even selfish to blame everything on someone else, but he couldn't help it. This sort of minefield life just wasn't coping with him. He was just tired of how those supernatural things kept popping up at any moment in his life when all he asked was just some peace and quiet which he did for quite some times now and it was getting more and more often.

_I really need the aspirins right now._ Cloud thought out loud, not really caring if someone who walked passed the room heard his mental thoughts, because it was best he could just throw out whatever things he was thinking right now, then to have another psychic burst later with a mountain of stuffs to clean up and to pay. He was pretty sure he was on the verge of hating the whole world and wished it to go to Hell with all the things that kept happening to him. _Good Gaia... I need therapy too. Zack you better be back now or I'll probably throw a fit._

As if on cue, Zack entered the room with a bottle filled with aspirins that was enough for him to last for a month. Cloud gave a sigh of relief as he took the medicine from his friend and immediately popped two pills into his mouth. He swallowed them dry, since he didn't have any water and he was in desperate need of aspirins for his headaches. Zack quickly shoved a bottle of water into his hands which he was grateful of and drank the clear liquid in one gulp.

The effect of the pills might not be immediate, but he could feel it slowly taking toll on him and he rather enjoyed the feeling of being weightless, which was kind of like his soul had left his body's empty shell. Not that he was some kind of guy who was addicted to any drug he took. It was just hard for him to relieve the stress he had and, for now, anything that might help him to get rid of it was greatly welcomed.

Zack told him to get some sleep while he unpacked their stuffs. Cloud nodded in agreement as he was getting drowsier and drowsier until he drifted into his usual dreamless sleep.

* * *

Cloud sat up groggily on his bed, rubbing his eyes as he studied the dark room he was in. It looked like it was nighttimes already, but Zack and Genesis weren't here. He tried to switch on the lamp on the nightstand, but no light came out.

_Where?_ Memories slowly popped up in his mind as he remembered taking aspirins from Zack and then he fell asleep almost instantly. The blond moved his hands around blindly until his fingers gasped what he thought was his backpack. He rummaged in his bag for the flashlight he had dumped in it before they left the mansion.

He let out a cry of victory when he found the flashlight and turned it on. The small, but strong ray of light cut through the darkness, revealing what the dark shapes he saw were. He walked towards the table to see if his friends had left a note for him, but he found none. _Strange... Something's not right..._

Even if Genesis and Zack had to leave in a hurry, Zack would have at least left a small note for him. Both of them gone and left no note meant something must have happened while he was asleep, but what?

Seeing that staying in the dark room wouldn't help her one bit, Cloud decided to leave the safety of the room and went to explore the darker corridor outside the room. The young spellcaster walked down the long corridor in a slow cautious pace, only walking on where his flashlight had touched. Panic and fear were slowly rising in his heart with each step he took. It was quiet and he couldn't feel any sort of life around him, it was like every resident in the whole hotel had suddenly vanished without a trace. In short, the place was lifeless.

_Hello! Is anyone in here?_ Cloud shouted in his mind, hoping someone might respond to his telepathic call, when he reached the lobby of the hotel, but there weren't any sort of reply.

The blond took a deep breath to stay calm, knowing that if he started to get all panicky, it wouldn't help him one bit. Without Genesis and Zack around, he only got his still feeble spells to defend himself and his legs to run away, which was a huge disadvantage to him if he encountered the two creatures in Cid's and Shera's story. Suddenly, he felt the air around him shifted and he heard some shuffling sound coming from where the couches and chairs were placed for the guests.

_Is someone there?_ Cloud called out telepathically as he took a careful step towards where he heard the sound.

'Over here,' a cold voice whispered from behind him.

The blond haired mage turned and flashed his light around, while his heart was beating rapidly as if he was running a marathon. The voice was too close for comfort. He slowly took a step back as he tried to find the source of the voice.

'I'm here,' the same voice whispered behind his ear. Cloud found himself unable to move and his whole body frozen in fear. Hands, he felt two icy cold hands running smooth circle on his hands and then they moved up, touching his arms rather sensually, before they rested on his shoulders. 'I have been waiting for so long...'

Cloud slowly turned around to see whose voice that belonged to. What he saw sacred the daylight out of him. The person's face was completely covered in metal strips that had dozen of scratched marks on and there was only a small space that was opened for him to breathe through. He wasn't sure if it was him who had fainted or it was the darkness that was surrounding them had taken over his vision.

* * *

Genesis wasn't sure if he wanted to fry Fair at this very instance or tried to find Strife and strangled him. First, Fair the puppy had almost ran over him in panic shouting nonsense like a possessed madman until he had calm down and explained to him that Cloud had gone missing. Second, the blond should have been more vigilant when he knew that there was a creature out there, but instead of being in alert, he had to go and fall asleep and got himself kidnapped! Third, that useless and brainless _defective_ Highwind was being stubbornly annoying, ordering him around like he owned the place, he took orders from no one!

The Krusnik closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, trying to calm himself down and focused on what he was currently studying. From what he could see, Cloud was lying on the bed all along before the puppy had realized that he had vanished and the small trace of darkness that tainted the sheet told him that the creature must have used the boy's own shadow to capture him, but if it had taken Cloud out of the hotel through the shadows by force, he would have felt something through their inner-connection. At least the link forged by their pact was good for something, though it was useless right now.

Also, if the monster came in and out of the hotel through the shadows, he would have noticed its movements. So it must have used another way to capture the blond without alerting anyone its presence, but how did it accomplish it?

His train of thoughts was abruptly interrupted by a loud crashing sound which was caused by an extremely distressed Zack Fair. Fair was throwing hard things that were not breakable around looking like half-mad and had accidentally broken a mirror that was placed at the corner of the room. Genesis had kind of hoped that the mirror had magic, because mirrors filled with magical power tended to react violently against those who tried to break their glass or they would released an energy that would harmed, if not obliterated, their attacker after their glass was broken, but sadly this was only a plain old non-magical mirror, so the puppy would only get seven years of ill luck, if the boy was superstitious about those humans' imaginative stories.

The Krusnik was about to say some nasty and sarcastic comment about Fair's behaviour, but the words got stuck in his throat when his eyes landed on the reflection that the broken mirror showed. The pieces of glass that still were on the wooden frame reflected his face, but some of them showed him in his true form, with his red eyes and sharp fangs.

Finally, things started to chain together as he continued to stare at the glass' shards. The reason why the creature was able to kidnap Strife without alerting him, it had used the Shadow Realm to accomplish it. The Shadow Realm was like a mirror reflection of reality, but things worked differently. Time didn't exist in that realm, where there was light in the actual world was only darkness and living became lifeless. In short, it was an empty parallel world where shadows dominated everything.

He picked up one of the shards and cast a tracking spell he had used many time during the time he hunted the vampires. Since vampires' blood had each a unique kind of magic residue in them, it made tracking them easier. So if he applied the same concept on whatever remains of magic that was used on the mirror, it should point them the way to where the monster and Cloud were located.

The glass shard he held glowed dimly on the right side, pointing directly the window, Genesis turned towards the window and opened it. The shard glowed brighter as Genesis watched where it pointed directly at looming shadow of Mt. Nibel.

This was too much of a coincidence. Cloud had mentioned to them that the monster might be hiding within the Nibel mountains and this piece of information came from a stranger who they knew nothing about other than his name which could a false one. This all sounded too much like a trap to him, but a trap he could used to his advantage...

'We're leaving,' Genesis said as he strolled out of the room with the agitated puppy at his toll.

'Where are we going?' Zack asked hastily.

'We're getting Strife back.'

* * *

Cloud coughed slightly as he sat up on the rocky ground, he felt like his head was being used as a drum for a whole day. One second he was in the dark hotel room, having a creep guy behind him, and the next, he was here in the dark of some sort of underground cave or something. He could barely see anything in the pitch black darkness around him.

_Light, light, light. Where's my flashlight?_ Cloud thought as he felt around him for the flashlight, but he couldn't find it anywhere near him. _Ok. Plan B._

The blond concentrated his power, imagining a glowing sphere in his hand to help him materialized his source of light, and almost instantly a bright orb was formed in his hand, shining the dark environment. _I'm getting good at this._

Suddenly the light he had created dimmed to nothingness. _Or not._

Cloud ran a hand through his messy hair and decided to try the trick he had read at the last chapter of the book about controlling magical powers. He placed his hand in front of him and released a wave of energy that swept the entire area, which allowed him to see the outlines of the stones and water around him. The trick worked like the echolocation that bats and dolphins used to help them navigated in their environments.

He walked forward a few steps before he released another wave. Cloud kept doing this until he reached another part of the labyrinth cave that was slightly darker and smaller than the other part, but a faint dimmed light was shone behind some rocks.

He carefully made his way towards the light, readying an offensive spell if whatever was behind the rocks would attack him, but what he found surprised him more than when a monster jumped on him. It was a broken capsule that big enough to hold a teenage adult inside and the light came from the glowing clear green liquid. Cloud broke off one of the glass and swiped up some of the liquid, taking a few sniff at it, he quickly pulled away. Whatever the substance was, it was not good at all, he didn't know what it was exactly. Though he caught a faint scent of Alocasias mixed with several others that he identified had sedative effect.

When Cloud was just a child, his mother had taught him everything about the plants, which one was toxic or not, which combination of plants could be poisonous. He remembered that his mother had warned about the effects of Alocasias, it was also called elephant's ear. Alocasias' flowers might have a certain appealing appearance for the garden, but if one consumed it, it could cause stomach upset, painful mouth irritation, mental instability and possible death.

_Why would someone put a dangerous substance in it?_ Cloud thought as he unintentionally backed away from the capsule. He couldn't even imagined what the person or animal or whatever living being that was put inside the capsule would feel being soak in this poisonous liquid for a long period.

He gulped unsteadily as he approached the capsule again and studied it thoroughly to if there was other indication of where this capsule might came from and maybe identified what was actually inside it. He found a faded inscription on top of the prison-like container, it read: 'Sub... SC-N1 N...'

If Cloud had to guess, the inscription must a code number for some sort of science freak. Everything reminded him to much of how he and Zack found Genesis. It all began when they started searching for an inscription.

_I have to get out of here before whoever kidnaps me comes back._ Cloud thought as he stood up and readied to leave this place, but he came face to face with the person in a metallic mask, or rather the prisoner of the capsule.

* * *

**I am deeply sorry for those who were waiting impatiently for the update. I know this chapter might be too short, but I am really working as hard as I can to get the chapter done. Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy or any of its characters.**

* * *

Madness against Madness

Cloud didn't move a single muscle as he stared at the masked person before him. _Why does it always happen to me? Getting kidnap or being targeted first? Why do they always pick me?_ Cloud was pretty sure that if he was able to say that out loud among his acquaintances, Genesis would definitely said that he was the weakest of them all, Zack would simply said that he was the one who needed to be protected the most and Detective Highwind... what would he say? Never mind that.

'I see you are awaked brother,' the cold male voice said behind the thick mask, sounding pleased. Cloud was not sure if he should reply or not, but he was more surprised by the last part of the sentence. Did the masked guy just call him brother? Suddenly he felt cold fingertips touched his neck gently, Cloud could only stared at the man before him, slightly feared that he might strangle him.

'Was it _them_? Did _they_ take your voice?' the man said in an almost monotone tone, but Cloud could detect a hint of anger in his voice.

Cloud might not know who the "they" the man referred to were, but he was somehow certain that they were scientists. If it really was scientists, than the chance that the broken capsule behind him belonged to this masked man was pretty high and with his dumb luck, he could gave up on praying that this guy wasn't the one who was being drowned in toxic liquid, which caused mental illness and intense pain, for an unknown amount of time. In short, he was now standing in front of a mentally unstable man.

_It's alright, I'm fine..._ Cloud said telepathically, putting his hands over the cold ones in a comforting manner.

The masked man leaned forward and placed his forehead on Cloud's, Cloud tried to relax as much as possible, since the masked man seemed to mistake him for someone else. It was best if he pretended to be said person for now, until Genesis and Zack had figured out where the hell he actually was right now. As much as his idea sounded very damsel in distress, he couldn't find another better solution to his current problem.

_Where the hell are those idiots?_ Cloud thought silently in the back of his mind. _Genesis..._

* * *

'Where the hell is that idiot!' Detective Highwind shouted at the top of his lungs and sneezed loudly at the same time as they climbed up the small rocky trail of Mt. Nibel.

'Detective, perhaps you should take your med-' Shera tried to suggest, but was abruptly cut off by the aggravated policeman.

'Shut it, I don't need those-ACHOOO! DAMN PILLS!'

'How come a detective has pollen allergies, I mean wouldn't a single sneeze get the attention of gang member or any type of bad guy you are chasing after?' Zack asked sceptically as he jumped over a small stream.

'Yeah right, try to find a single thief, who is stupid enough to steal something while I'm around,' Cid replied gruffly as he sneezed once more.

'Or lack of. I doubt there is anything valuable enough in that godforsaken village to catch the lowliest thief's attention.' Genesis added his two cents as he tried to extent his senses to search for Cloud's and the monster's trace while trying ignored the bickering of the two idiots of the group.

So far they had not found a single clue where Cloud might be hidden and they were running out of time, in two hours, the sun would be completely set and they would be in a huge disadvantage against their mysterious adversary and without Cloud breaking his seal, he had limited power to use.

Genesis growled in frustration as he couldn't pinpoint the location of his pact partner, it was like the blond was here and everywhere at the same time. They were running out time and he didn't like the idea of fighting without his full strength against a monster that had control over the shadow. His musing was interrupted by a loud yelp. When he turned around, he was ready to throw a fireball at the two idiots behind him, but he stopped when he saw the hole in the ground where the Pup had been standing.

'At least the pup was useful enough to sniff things out,' the redhead commented nonchalantly as he went to stand next to the hole.

'I HEAR THAT YOU KNOW!' Zack's shout echoed deep within the hole. 'AND I'M NOT A PUPPY!'

'Of course, pup,' Genesis replied sarcastically as he dropped into the hole and landed gracefully next to Zack, who he could barely see if he hadn't had some vampire abilities in him, was glaring at him the whole time.

'See anything down there!' Cid bellowed from above them, his shout echoed throughout the cave.

'It's too dark to see anything in here!' Zack replied. 'We need some more light!'

Seconds later, Zack let out a yell of pain as he rubbed his head where a small bump was already forming. Genesis was smirking all the time as he went to pick up the item that was the cause of the painful bump on the black haired teen, twirling the heavy flashlight in his hand.

Though his smile turned into a grimace when his nose caught a familiar scent, a scent he loathed as much as his vampire instinct favoured it immensely. _Blood_. The smell of both dried and fresh blood filled his nostrils as if the entire underground cave was covered by it.

'I don't think we need anymore light here,' Genesis muttered offhandedly.

'Sorry Mr. I-can-see-in-the-dark! Not all of us can see in here!' Zack snarled in frustration as he snatched the flashlight out of the Krusnik's hand and opened it. As soon as light flooded out, Zack's face turned ten shades paler.

The Krusnik tried to keep a straight face at the sight before him, while the human was making dozen of choking sounds as if he was going to puke in any given seconds. Genesis tried very hard to ignore the bloodlust that was urging him to kneel down and lap up the blood on the ground like the blood-sucking monsters he had hunted down during his time as a vampire hunter.

'Come on pup, we need to find Cloud before we become part of the décor,' Genesis growled, as he felt his fangs growing a bit longer at each passing second and the temptation to drink blood was growing stronger. If it wasn't for the seal on him, he might had already changed and gone berserk.

_Genesis..._

The voice of Cloud cut through the fog that was starting to surround his mind and cleared his thoughts. Genesis was slightly relieved that Cloud was safe and their pact was once again strengthen, allowing him to regain control over his vampire's instinct. The redhead turned and gestured to Zack to stay silent and moved towards the tunnel on the right.

After walking a little while, they spotted some faint lights before them and Zack quickly shut off his flashlight. Both of them quietly crept closer to the light, but they kept a safe distance from it, in case they needed to retreat or take cover.

Though the lights were faint, they helped Genesis' sight and what he spotted made him swore he was going to have a long talk with Cloud about rules of self-preservation when facing blood-thirsty monsters. Rule number one: Never, _ever_, let a monster be any closer to you than a sword-length. Now Cloud was breaking the first rule, hugging the monster that they were hunting was the worst choice he ever made.

Before Genesis was allowed to ponder whether he should stayed hidden and continued his observation or simply jumped out of his hiding place and threw fireballs at the two, he caught sight of his own shadow and Zack's twitching slightly.

Genesis quickly, as much as he played with the idea of either letting the pup eaten by the shadow or had the puppy owed him for saving, shoved Zack away as their own shadow tried to swallow them whole.

'SHIT!' Zack cursed as he watched his own shadow returned to its former shape.

Genesis turned his head to gaze the creature that still got his back facing them said, 'So you finally found me.'

'Give Cloud back to us!' Zack immediately shouted as he quickly stood.

'Cloud? Cloud? Cloud?' the creature muttered as he slowly let go of Cloud and turned to stare at them. Genesis recoiled a bit when he noticed the monster got his entire head encased in a metal mask of some sort, just seeing it brought some nasty memories back to the surface of his mind. Though he quickly pushed those dark memories aside as he focused on his enemy, knowing that both he and Zack were in a huge disadvantage, because they were not only in the territory that the monster seemed familiar with and they were surrounded by darkness.

Taking a chance and hoping it could surprise the monster long enough for Cloud to release the seal over him. He quickly threw a couple fireballs at the humanoid monster as he yelled, 'Get out of the way Cloud!'

Genesis was glad that the blond's reflex was at least quick enough, but before his pact partner could get out of his range of fire, the creature caught Cloud's wrist and held him close to him. _Shit!_

Before Genesis could cancel his own spell to prevent harm to his partner, the shadow-manipulating monster simply made a small gesture with his hand and the nearby shadow came up and took the hit instead.

When the shadow was dissipated, Genesis' eyes glared at the monster and he could practically felt the hatred and anger emanating from the creature whole body as some shadow that looked like threads shot out of no where and tied him and Zack up in mid-air.

'I won't... I won't lose my brother... I won't lose... I won't lose AGAIN!' the monster shouted madly as dark energy emanated around him. 'I WON'T LET YOU TAKE MY BROTHER AGAIN! I WON'T LET HIM LEAVE ME ALONE AGAIN!'

'CLOUD!' Genesis heard Zack yelled out as he watched the novice mage being enveloped by the shadow and vanished without a trace. 'YOU BASTARD!'

* * *

That was pretty much what had happened to Cloud that had leaded him to his current position, which was in the middle of darkness and with no apparent exit or any kind of weak spot he could use to pierce his dark surroundings.

Cloud couldn't help but thought back at the few words that the creature – no, the man – had said before he was more or less banished into this shadow realm. That person was perhaps in pain, both physically and mentally. Cloud knew he shouldn't really relied to much on his instincts, but something told him that he had hit the nail on the head in this case.

The man was probably stuck inside the cavern, not knowing how to get out for years and all he got with him was only sadness and despair.

_He mentions a brother._ Cloud thought melancholy. Once in a while, he wished he got a sibling who could understand him and support him whenever he needed. He shook the thought out of his man as he studied the darkness, while ignoring the frosty bites aall over his body. Suddenly he started hearing a voice saying something, it was then he realized it was the monster himself who was talking.

'_Brother will back soon, he will come back to get me._'

'_Brother where are you? You will come back, right?_'

'_I hate to be alone. I hate to be alone. I HATE TO BE ALONE!_'

'_It's entirely the people's fault that my brother left me! All of you go to HELL!'_

'_It's that you brother? You really come back and you didn't leave me!_'

'_No, it's not true this person is Brother, not who they call Cloud!_'

'_No, no, no, no, no, NO! They can't take you away again! I don't want to go back to that dark room! I HATE ALL OF YOU! LEAVE ME AND BROTHER ALONE!_'

Cloud grimaced at what he had just heard. He really couldn't imagine what had happened to this... human being and he was certainly not going to let him down, though he couldn't do anything right now, since he was in the darkness.

_Cloud Strife! You need to get your facts straight. You can __**always**__ do something! So stop sitting on your ass and get up!_ Cloud's moral gone up and it was like his own spirit warmed his cold body, giving him more strength. He was ready to try whatever spell he got in his mind to get out of here.

He looked down on the pendant he was wearing and pulled it off. He quickly squeezed his hand around the stone until he felt the burning pain of the stone cutting his flesh as he unlocked the seal over Genesis' power.

The stone flashed brightly for a moment before its light dulled a bit. _At least, Genesis got his power back to defend himself. Now, what to do?_ It seemed like he was either going to wait for Genesis to get him out of here or tried to get out by himself. _I'm getting out of here myself. I have got to make sure that Genesis won't kill the man._

Cloud muttered a few short fire and light spell, but the darkness was as gloomy as ever. Seeing that none of his easiest spells were working, Cloud decided to use a long versed one to see if it could do anything. He put his hands close together in prayer as he started chanting in his mind:

_Darkness that surrounds me,_

_Light that resides in me,_

_As Light shine on Darkness it grew stronger than ever,_

_As Darkness engulfed all Light which goes brighter than ever,_

_I pledge myself to thee,_

_Let Darkness be vanished,_

_Give me the power to vanquish,_

_Those who stand against me!_

_I summon forth your power!_

_Lord of the Sky of Light!_

_Valefor!_

He swung his hands, which were bathed in white light, up like he made baseball swing and the light left his hand.

The ball of light flew in the air for a moment before it turned and changed into the shape of a winged dragon that gave a powerful roar as its body shone brighter, while the darkness around Cloud and his summon cracked and, eventually, broke into dozen of pieces like a broken mirror.

The first Cloud saw as the dark pieces rained down on him was Genesis with his ruby red sword held up high and the shadow manipulator on his knees in front of the Krusnik. _NO!_ Cloud shouted as he hurriedly stood before the weaken man who had trapped him in darkness and found himself closer to Genesis' sword than ever.

'Cloud, get out of my way,' Genesis growled lowly in his throat as he kept his blade close to his pact partner's throat. 'He doesn't deserve to live after all that he had done.'

_Stop it Genesis! He didn't even have the slightest idea that what he was doing was wrong! I heard his thoughts, he should not died like this. He deserved a second chance!_ Cloud said, hoping his words could convince the stubborn Krusnik, though he did not succeeded, when Genesis simply pushed him aside roughly as he swung down his sword as Cloud shouted him to stop as the masked man just lowered his head as if he had accepted his fate.

Instead, the rapier landed a few inches from the masked man on the ground. Genesis cursed in some foreign language that sounded more like singing than talking before he waved his free hand to dismiss his weapon. Cloud quickly went beside the shadow manipulator as he thanked Genesis telepathically, though Genesis only reply was a snort, while Zack scowled at the redhead for his rudeness.

_Are you alright?_ Cloud asked the weakened masked man.

'Brother...' the masked man said in a low voice.

_I'm sorry, but I'm not your brother._ Cloud replied honestly as he took the cold hand in his. _But I promise I'll help you find him._

Even though Cloud couldn't what kind of expression the masked man was making, but he was sure that he was smiling behind his mask.

_What's your name?_ Cloud asked gently.

When the man simply shook his head sadly, Cloud suggested. _What do you think of, Nero?_

Cloud heard Genesis scoffed behind and said he was not every original with giving names, but the masked responded positively with his new name, which made the blond smiled happily as he pulled Nero up to his feet.

* * *

**I am extremely sorry for those who were waiting for a new chapter, but my mind had been blank for long, long while and it was only recently that my imagination decided to get back to work! So I apologies deeply for the delay and I hope everyone have enjoy this chapter!**


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